


Blinding Lights

by Rogue21



Category: Cyberpunk 2077 (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Cyberpunk, F/F, F/M, M/M, Mystery, Romance, Sexual Content, Street Kid V (Cyberpunk 2077), more to be added - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 21:47:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 32,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28677648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rogue21/pseuds/Rogue21
Summary: You want to make it in Night City you gotta work hard for it but there’s many ways to do it. Become a Corpo, become a Fixer, rise in the ranks of Mercenaries, become famous, fuck a celebrity, or try become the next Johnny Silverhand. Enter V, Heywood born, raised by the streets of Night City and his eyes are drawn to the stars. But sometimes even a small job can lead to big opportunities and this teeny job that involves a little thievery: a powder keg waiting to blow up Arasaka once again.
Relationships: Kerry Eurodyne/Male V, Misty Olszewski/Jackie Welles
Comments: 29
Kudos: 147





	1. V

“Ah shit,” V said after setting his nose back in place, motherfucking cunt-bag who decided to punch him out.

“You alright V, what happened to your nose?” Jackie Welles asked him. V raised his eyebrow at the chipper merc and showed off bruised knuckles. Jackie and V were well acquainted, from different neighbourhoods but crossed paths in the Coyote many times, had even done the odd job together.

“Some scav tried to mug me, I took care of it, what about you, how you’d your job go?” V asked him.

“Eh, did the thing and got the eddies, Padre was looking for you by the way, said he’s got a new job for you, he’s outside,” Jackie said to him.

“Sure, order me some Centzan will ya?” V replied and got up from his seat.

“Sure thing, Pepe, two tequila’s and keep V’s on ice for him,” Jackie said to Pepe as V walked out of the Coyote.

Outside Padre was waiting at his car.

“V, good to see you, how are things?” he asked V.

“Pretty good Padre, Jackie said you had a job for me,” V answered. Padre nodded and handed him a photo.

“See this man,” Padre said pointing to a dark-haired thinly haired man with a slimy looking grin.

“Wait…I know this guy,” V’s brow furrowed at the photo. “Fucking Gaston Slayton, obsessed with Samurai and Kerry Eurodyne, he tried to steal my Second Conflict jacket after I refused to sell it to him.”

“Then you might appreciate this job, I have a client, you might know who, he needs you to recover an item that is in Gaston’s apartment, Kerry Eurodyne’s guitar, the job pays well and when you have the guitar, you need to return it direct to Mr Eurodyne at his residence in North Oak, you know the one, yes?” Padre asked. V nodded.

“Yeah, the one with the gold-plated Samurai, sure, I can get Kerry his guitar, just one thing…how did Gaston obtain the guitar from Kerry’s place, heard he has wicked security?” he asked.

“Mr Slayton hired a couple thieves to steal it for him, from what I gather, they were successful in the robbery, but did not make it back alive, the apartment in question is just down the road, seventeenth floor, apartment 1702, get that guitar and you get your eddies,” Padre explained.

“Alright Padre, just down the road, I can get it done,” V agreed. Stealing a priceless guitar and a chance to meet Kerry Eurodyne, he was going to need his bike.

V went back inside the Coyote and saw Jackie was still waiting with his tequila.

“Well, I’m about to meet a rock star, so I need my bike, it still in the garage?” V asked Jackie and downed his tequila.

“Sure thing, I fixed up the engine a little so it purrs like a kitten now, plus I gave it a little shine and cleared up some scuffs,” Jackie replied.

“Thanks Jack, alright I’m going to get it, what are your plans?”

“Date with my girl Misty, she also says you’re due for a tarot reading,” Jackie replied.

“Tell her I’ll drop by after my job, also take my wheels, I’m not using it tonight,” V said and handed Jackie the key to his car. He headed out the back of the Coyote and towards the garages on Republic where Jackie kept their bikes. He unlocked the door with his spare key and grabbed his bike out, the blue was really shining today, V noticed. Jackie must have used his special wax.

* * *

V started his bike, climbing on and riding the short distance to Slayton’s apartment. He walked inside, gun in his holster.

“Jesus, that Slayton fuck is playing his music at full blast again, why haven’t they evicted him?” one of Slayton’s neighbours whined in the lobby.

“Slayton’s not in today is he?” V inquired to the neighbour.

“No he decided to fuck off to some auction today and keep his music playing full blast,” the neighbour answered.

“Alright, well I can go and turn it off for you, just don’t tell anyone it was me,” V said with a wink. The neighbour nodded in agreement as V went to the lift and pushed the screen for the seventeenth floor. V glanced up at the camera and back at the door. Stealing Kerry Eurodyne’s guitar, a dream job for him, maybe if he was feeling a little sneaky he could grab a few more trinkets from Gaston’s apartment. The lift opened up on the seventeenth floor and he walked to the door of the apartment. He scanned the door with his optics, bypassing the lock and quickly slipping inside. His mouth dropped at the sight of the apartment, a temple to Samurai.

“Fuck and I thought I was a nerd because I own some Samurai bootlegs,” V said to himself as he turned off the music. He searched the apartment, heading up the stairs into Gaston’s bedroom. More posters, and a photograph of Gaston with Kerry, a good decade old, he could tell. V took the photo out of the frame and smirked at it, Gaston really was a slime ball, he thought to himself and ripped the photo in half, he put the Kerry half into his pocket letting the Gaston half fall to the floor. That was for trying to take his jacket, was it petty, absolutely, but he was also committing theft, so morals were out the window here. He turned to the computer and started to hack in. V could admit he was a bit of a Samurai fanboy, had some old bootlegs, a 2020 shirt, and a Kerry Eurodyne Second Conflict jacket, all sold to him by the old geezer in the Cherry Blossom market near Jig-Jig street, he even had a couple old tour posters, but he also listened to other music and he had to admit that Pon-Pon Shit despite being literal Bubblegum vomit was catchy and he could tolerate it. The hack worked, and Gaston’s PC was unlocked.

“Alright, where do you keep that guitar,” V muttered as he looked through the emails. “Shit, he was willing to pay to look like Kerry himself,” V said jacking his neural interface back into the computer and downloading copies of the emails. A bit of blackmail perhaps, could be useful stuff, V thought as he checked the files. Nothing to suggest a passcode, but there was a door with remote access to the computer. He pressed to unlock the door and heard the whoosh of a door opening. Cautious, V kept his hand on his holster as he went through the other door leading into the bedroom and saw an open door leading into a room filled with musical equipment and Kerry’s guitar.

“Preem,” V whispered, in awe of the guitar, he walked over and picked it up from the display. He put the strap over his shoulder, delicately caressing the neck, stroking the strings softly. He wanted to pluck a tune, the need was great.

“No V, you got your own axe, let’s get you home buddy,” V said to the guitar and let the guitar hang from his back. As he went back into the bedroom to set everything back, he spotted an open suitcase and a pair of leather pants, he picked them up, no way were they Gaston’s too small, but for V, they were a good fit for himself. V looked at the name tag and saw a J.S scribbled in and faded.

“J S, no,” V said not believing it, and put the pants into his bag. He reset the computer, logging out and quickly headed for the door.

Locking the apartment behind him, V got back into the elevator and called Padre.

“I have secured the item,” V confirmed.

“Excellent, I will inform Mr Eurodyne that you are to be expected,” Padre answered and hung up. The lift door opened as V walked into the lobby, the neighbour was no longer there but Gaston was at the desk arguing with the concierge.

“What the fuck do you mean that the music was turned off?” he shouted to her.

“Please Mr Slayton,” she began as V quickly high-tailed it to the door before Gaston could turn around. As he reached the door, he head it.

“Who the fuck was allowed access to my apartment!” Gaston shouted again as V started to run, his bike was right there, shining blue and ready to go.

“Oh I hate that guy,” V muttered to himself as he jumped onto the bike, started ignition and kicked off. The bike revved angrily as V rode out of the building’s parking lot and down through Heywood. Time to ride to North Oak.


	2. North Oak

V rode through the North Oak as the sun was starting to set. He had ridden through North Oak a few times to go to the old abandoned Drive-In, most times it was to paint on the back of the projector, other times it was for peace and quiet. He had passed Kerry’s mansion a lot but never had a look inside. He rode up to the gates, the sun was bouncing off the gold plated gate and he quickly checked the guitars condition. Still preem quality. He walked up to the intercom and pressed call.

“Who the fuck is it?” answered Kerry.

“Name’s V, you were expecting me,” V said. There was some silence before the gate opened.

“Inside and quick,” Kerry said and the intercom turned off. V grabbed his bike and pushed it inside past the gate which closed immediately. He left the bike on the driveway and walked up to the door. The doors opened as standing in the doorway was Kerry Eurodyne. V smiled slightly as he stepped forward and got the guitar off his back.

“Little birdie told me you uh…lost this,” V said as he handed over the guitar. Kerry examined it, strummed a few strings and nodded.

“Alright, nice work,” Kerry said, he was about to speak more when V’s holo started to ring.

“Sorry, mind if I take this,” V said. Kerry said nothing and gestured for him to come inside.

“Jackie, what is it?” V answered walking through the door and following Kerry.

“Bad news choom, Watson just got locked down, you at your apartment?” Jackie asked.

“No I’m in North Oak, I just finished my job, fuck, locked down, how long?” V said. He saw Kerry glance back and stop abruptly as V almost knocked into him.

“No idea V, if you want I can talk to Mama, have her make up the couch for you,” Jackie offered.

“No it’s cool Jack, I’ll figure something out, probably sleep in one of the booths at the Coyote, thanks anyway,” V said and hung up. “Sorry, where were we?”

“Payment, but apparently you’ve got bigger problems, you live in Watson?” Kerry asked him as he started to walk again.

“Yeah, got this place, but the place is locked down again, third one this year,” V said to him.

“Alright,” Kerry paused, thinking for a moment. “Alright, bonus payment, in addition to the five thousand eddies for bringing back my guitar, I’ll let you stay for dinner and I have like eight couches and four spare mattresses you can choose from to sleep on, maybe let you take a shower too, tomorrow morning I’ll get you transport to get you back into the city,” he said. V was a little stunned, he thought Kerry would pay him then boot him. The payment went through quick as he saw his account go from 300 eddies to 5300 eddies.

“Thanks, I don’t know what to say, I feel like I should steal some more shit back for you in return,” V said a little bashful of his kindness. Kerry laughed as he directed him to a couch.

“Ass, plant it, now we’re going to order,” Kerry said. “What do you want to eat?” V sat down, he had a hankering for some buck-a-slice, but he figured no way would Kerry eat that.

“What’s your thought on Buck-A-Slice?” V asked him.

“I can eat it, I can order Buck-A-Slice, maybe something from Caliente’s too you like Caliente’s?”

“Yeah, they do those great little cheese panini’s and hot dogs, though the coffee always tastes like it’s burnt,” V said.

“That’s ‘cause you’re not getting the ‘ganic stuff, I’ll get some of that too, in the meantime why don’t you tell me who had my guitar,” Kerry said as he got out his computer to order the food.

“You know a Gaston Slayton?” V asked him. Kerry stopped.

“He was the fucking thief, that fanatic who keeps trying to buy half the useless shit I own?”

“He does that?” V knew he was obsessed but this? “What’s he buying from you, empty coffee cups?”

“Coffee cups, toothbrushes, you name it, anything I touched he wants it, is he trying to make a clone?” Kerry said. V shook his head.

“Way worse, he wants to be you, it’s insane, he once tried to steal my Second Conflict jacket once and you can’t find those for cheap, guy in Cherry Blossom market sold it to me with some old Samurai bootlegs and this very shirt, I grew up listening to that shit in Heywood,” he said to Kerry indicating to his biker jacket.

“Oh yeah, which Samurai song’s your favourite?”

“Well everyone knows Chippin’ In and Never Fade Away, but Black Dog is my favourite, nothing like listening to that while riding through Night City at two in the morning on my bike,” V answered. Kerry smirked a little and closed his computer.

“Food’s coming, but Black Dog huh, not a lot of people would put that in their top five,” Kerry replied.

“Archangel’s up there too, that opening riff,” V said.

* * *

His holo started to ring again, Jackie. “Jackie again, what’s up choomba?” he answered.

“Misty wants to know if you still want your tarot reading done later on tonight or tomorrow,” Jackie asked him.

“Book it in for tomorrow, tarot reading and an appointment to see Vik to get a tune up, I’m having dinner with a rock star,” V replied.

“Dinner?” Jackie said in surprise.

“Yeah, bonus for my work, plus he overheard the conversation about Watson, you two have fun on your date okay?” V said.

“Well you have fun on your date too V,” Jackie said and hung up.

“It’s not a-,” V began just as Jackie cut him off. “Date.” Kerry shot V an intrigued look.

“Date huh,” he said with a chuckle. V laughed as well.

“We can decide that later,” he said and opened his bag to store his phone and saw the leather pants. “One other thing Kerry, when I was robbing the guitar back for you, I found these,” V pulled out the pants and Kerry’s mouth dropped slightly.

“Fuck, those were Johnny’s, I know because I always stole them after a show, he had those?”

“Well they’re mine now,” V said. He glanced at his knuckles and saw the bruises had started to go purple, his nose probably wasn’t looking too hot as well. “Fuck, my hand is starting to hurt, ever punched a guy so hard he almost broke your hand?”

“Once and he did break my hand, why don’t you use my shower, bit of hot water should relieve any aches you got, I need to make some calls anyway, bathroom’s through the door next to my wall of guitars,” Kerry replied and stood up from the couch, getting his holo to start dialling numbers.

* * *

V stood up from the couch, leaving his jacket and taking the leather pants and went into the bathroom. A quick glance in the mirror, yeah his nose had an ugly purple bruise to it. But Kerry was cool, hadn’t said anything about it. V stripped down, leaving the clothes on the floor and stepped into the shower, the water hot, really hot hotter than the shower in his apartment. He sighed with relief and let the water flow over him, leaning against the wall for support. He would have to thank Padre for the job opportunity, and make sure Gaston never found out it was him to who stole back the guitar. He started to hum some music and wash himself, he had planned on a shower after returning to his apartment but the lockdown had happened. A shitty situation. He turned off the water, grabbing a towel and drying himself off, he started to get dressed and tried on the leather pants. He was surprised that they fit.

“Johnny Silverhand’s pants, hmm,” V said and glanced at himself in the mirror, they did look good. He left the bathroom, taking his jeans and putting them in his bag as Kerry was on his holo.

“The fuck are you talking about, no I didn’t leak my bare ass onto the Net…I am sure…I know what my own dick looks like you braindead gonk…fine send me the photos so I can find out which fuck doctored them so I can bury their ass in lawsuits so deep, they’ll need a fucking construction crew to dig them out,” Kerry shouted into the holo and hung up. He glanced up at V and then at the pants.

“Leaked nudes Kerry?” V asked.

“Apparently there’s naked photos of me on the Net, look if I’m going to be showing off everything, I would hire a studio out and a professional,” Kerry said to him.

“I believe you, by the way what do you think?” V said and gestured to the pants. Kerry nodded.

“Not bad V,” he said approvingly as he checked out the young merc in the leather. There was a buzz from the intercom as Kerry over to it and pressed the answer.

“Who the fuck is it?” he asked.

“Food deliveries, Caliente’s, Buck-A-Slice, Tom’s Diner,” the delivery guy said.

“Alright, come on in, all better be there or no tip,” Kerry said and pressed for the gate to open.

V was surprised at the amount of food Kerry had gotten them, for two people it looked like it was more for five.

“You sure eat well,” V commented as they both sat on the couch, food on the table and the TV on.

“I haven’t had company in a while, gets kind of boring watching Watson Whore Diary without someone to mock the dialogue with,” Kerry told him.

“I get that, live by myself, if I’m not getting drunk at the Coyote with Jackie, I’m in my apartment which is literally the size of this room, thanks again for letting me stay, it was this or a booth and I didn’t want Mama Welles to be put out,” V said.

“You should have seen my first apartment in Night City, I don’t think the building it was in exists anymore, but it was this little loft apartment, boiler worked for one hour a day, water would get shut off twice a week because the pipes were shit and I had neighbours who were loud, if they weren’t fighting, they were fucking, and if they weren’t fucking, she was cheating on him, that was my Watson Whore Diary,” Kerry said. “Was just me there, Johnny would couch surf when girls he slept with would boot him into the street, Henry overdosed in my bathroom that was a fucking fun night, and Denny and Nancy only ever came by when they needed me to scare away boyfriends, only good thing about it, great fucking view of Night City.”

“I got a pretty good view of Watson from my place, you should see it it’s probably miles better than your first place,” V told him.

“I’m holding you to that V,” Kerry said.

Watson Whore came on the TV and they started to watch, food slowly being eaten, drinks being downed, and garbage media being consumed. By the time two AM rolled around, Kerry was asleep in his own bed and V was asleep on a spare mattress next to Kerry’s bed. V had considered just taking a couch, but Kerry wouldn’t hear of it, insisting he treat V like a proper guest. They had chatted for another hour before Kerry drifted off and V was left staring up at the ceiling, he had sent one final message Jackie before going off to sleep:

_Spending the night with a rock star._


	3. Kerry

Seven AM. Kerry awoke to early morning sunshine coming through his window. He sat up, looked around and saw V still sleeping on the spare mattress. Good kid, he thought himself as he stood up. He headed downstairs into the bathroom, and checked himself out in the mirror, he could see a blue glitch in his left optic and sighed, fucking things were breaking again He reached for a pill bottle and shook out two tiny lithium pills. He sighed and took them quickly. Hopping into the shower, he knew he’d have to try and run some errands, no inspiration for the sixth week running and menial shit was just that menial. Call a cleaning company to clean the place, see a Ripperdoc about his cyberware, and avoid any calls from his asshole of a manager. The world was grey and void in Kerry’s eyes, moving through on autopilot, except autopilot got switched to manual when V showed up, a splash of colour. But even without V around, autopilot came back and the world was grey again. He had known the guy for twelve hours now and V had been the only reason to not shut out the world and stare at his gun for three hours. He finished his shower, grabbed his robe and left the bathroom to find some clean clothes.

He headed back up the stairs, V was up, sitting on another couch.

“Morning,” he said in a groggy tone.

“Morning, won’t be long, I’ll get changed, we’ll grab some coffee and then I’ll take you back to Heywood, who’s your Ripperdoc again?” Kerry asked as he stepped into the closet to start looking for clothes.

“Viktor Vector,” V answered.

“Think he’ll have time for me today, my optics are glitching out.”

“I’m sure he’ll have time.”

“Might have him do a full sweep and also check my vocal chords too, these things were not cheap,” Kerry said and left the closet dressed in some casual rocker gear, leather jacket, black tank and a pair of leathers. “But first coffee, strong.” He headed downstairs, walking into the small kitchen and turning on the coffee machine. He got on the holo, called for a cleaning service to come and clean while he was gone, while V checked his messages and the news.

“Damn Watson’s going to be locked for a while, mayor’s orders,” V said.

“His doing, fuck, guy’s from Watson himself he can’t keep it on a leash?” Kerry asked as he got the confirmation for the cleaning company’s appointment. “I let you stay one night, you can stay here until lockdown is over.”

“Oh I don’t want you to feel obliged,” V began before Kerry put his hand up.

“Stop there, no ifs ands or buts about it, you’re locked out your district and you need a place to stay,” he said to him.

“Thanks, you’re…too kind, do you want me to kill Gaston for you because I feel like that’s what we’re building towards,” V said jokingly. Kerry chuckled.

“Nah you can just pay for the next date,” he said with a wink. V laughed a little, turning away slightly but Kerry could see the merc’s peachy complexion now going rosy.

* * *

By the time they’d had coffee and had a Delamain cab show up to take them to Heywood, the cleaning company had sent three ladies to the mansion. Two middle-aged women and a younger one about V’s age.

“Ladies, welcome to Casa Eurodyne, payments are going through now, so make sure the place is sparkling, one rule though, dust the guitars don’t polish them, some of them are fragile, alright,” Kerry said to the ladies.

“Of course Mr Eurodyne,” said one of the older ladies.

“Excellent,” Kerry said as he walked to the Delamain cab. He and V entered the cab.

“Hello Mr Eurodyne, how are you today?” Delamain said politely.

“Fan-fucking-tastic,” Kerry said. “This is my friend V, I need you add him to my Excelsior package.”

“You really don’t have to,” V said again.

“No I insist V, if you fight me on this you will lose, now link up,” Kerry told him. V pulled out his neural interface cable from his wrist and jacked into the car.

“Alright, you are now part of Mr Eurodyne’s Excelsior package, welcome to Delamain Vincent,” Delamain said.

“Vincent, that’s your name?” Kerry asked him.

“Call me V Delamain,” V said.

“Of course V.

The car started to drive them out of North Oak, Kerry and V started to make small talk about their cyberware. Kerry was surprised that V had some last gen stuff, nothing upmarket but then he figured V could want whatever really.

“What kind of implants would you want then?” Kerry asked him.

“A good pair of optics, and that hand implant that lets you know how many bullets you’re packing, I tend to forget to buy more when I get low, you know, plus my sights are shit,” V answered. Kerry nodded, his implants were purely for his work, vocal chords to strengthen his voice, optics for good measure to help him with music reading, never considered better sights for his gun though.

“Maybe I’ll get a few new toys then, any recommendations?” Kerry asked him.

“Depends, do you want to be a net runner?” V asked. Kerry shrugged.

“Probably not, I’ll see what your good doc has to offer,” he answered. As they rode past Konpeki Plaza, Kerry noticed a large Arasaka presence outside the hotel.

“Arasaka, that’s a lot of Corpos in one place,” Kerry said, a bad memory resurfacing. He shivered remembering the explosion and the news coverage. How Johnny never came back with Rogue. He had to have been killed, no way that he vanished without a trace.

“You okay Kerry?” V asked him. Kerry nodded.

“Fine just…remembering some shit.”

* * *

The car pulled up on Bradbury and Buran as Kerry and V exited the vehicle and walked down to Misty’s Esoterica. People gawked at him, Kerry Eurodyne in Heywood, with some random guy, people started whispering, asking questions. They walked into Misty’s where Misty stood at the counter with Jackie.

“Hi V,” she said waving to him.

“Hey Misty, is Vik in?” V asked as Jackie gawked at Kerry.

“Sure, he’s ready to see you now and your friend, we’ll do your tarot reading after,” Misty said.

“Sure thing, let’s go Ker,” V said and gestured for Kerry to follow him.

“Kerry Eurodyne…in Heywood,” Jackie said in an excitable tone. Kerry laughed as they went into the small alley. Kerry heard a meow and looked down to see a bald cat by the stairs.

“Hey little guy, aren’t you cold?” Kerry said leaning down to pet the cat. The cat meowed in response, glancing up at Kerry and starting to purr. He left the cat and followed V down the stairs into Vik’s clinic.

“Hey Vik, how are things?” V asked the good doc.

“Not bad V, I see you brought a friend,” Vik said with a gesture towards Kerry.

“Kerry Eurodyne, heard you’re a pretty good Ripperdoc,” Kerry said before a sharp electrical jolt stabbed his eye. “Ah fuck, fucking optic bastards.”

“Optical damage, good thing you came here, sit down so I can take a look,” Vik said pointing to the chair. Kerry sat down in the chair as V stood behind it, leaning on the back of the chair.

“Think you could give me some upgrades when you’re done, finally got the eddies to buy that hand implant that improves my sights,” V said.

“Sure thing, alright Mr Eurodyne, just relax,” Vik said.

“Call me Kerry,” Kerry said as Vik got his tools ready. He jabbed Kerry’s neck with an anaesthetic leaving two puncture wounds.

“Alright, let’s run a diagnostic sweep, see what the problem is,” Vik said and jacked a cable into Kerry’s neural port, bring up his info on the screen in front. Just as Vik thought. “Here’s the problem, optics are completely shot, you’ll need new ones, your chords are looking clean, but there’s an empty upgrade slot.”

“I had an auto tuner upgrade, biggest mistake I could have made, so I totalled it,” Kerry told him. V gave him a surprised look.

“Auto tuner, why did you use one of those?”

“My manager paid for it,” Kerry answered, fucking Kovachek and his stupid ideas.

“If you’ll excuse my language, your manager is fucking moron, if he’s paying for your implants, he’s ripping you off. I can install you some Kiroshi optics, I have all three versions come in, so you can take your pick, it’ll be costly but you shouldn’t have to worry about them glitching or breaking down, but if you need any other upgrades I can install them,” Vik told him.

“Got anything that can record audio and playback, not exactly asking for a BD implant, but something along those lines, sometimes if I get drunk enough I can make up lyrics on the fly, but I normally forget them if I sober up,” Kerry suggested to him. Vik took a quick look through his stock.

“I might have something, Militech grade Echo Location Sensors, allows you zero in on specific audio levels, pitches, conversations, you can tune into frequencies, record audio and play back, plus automatic translation, I can even link it to your Kiroshi optics so you can see where certain sounds are coming from,” Vik said.

“Ain’t that shit for spies?” V asked.

“And can also work for musicians,” Vik replied.

“I’ll take them, how long’s this going to take?” Kerry asked Vik.

“Not too long first I’ll put in the Echo Location Sensors, then I’ll upgrade your optics, you’ll be deaf and blind for a short time while I’m installing, all good?”

“Fucking upgrade me doc,” Kerry said before another jolt zapped him. “Better blind me first, I’ll take the mark three optics.” Vik shot Kerry another anaesthetic and slowly inserted his surgical needles around Kerry’s eye.

“Lights out for a bit, you’re gonna be okay in the void?” Vik asked.

“I’ve been there before.”


	4. The Hanged Man

The void. Nothingness. Like the deep ocean where no light could enter, but Kerry could feel the movement of the tools as they worked on him, V’s presence he could sense. He wanted to reach out, but he knew this was fragile work. Nothing like combing through a couple of memories while he waited for the world to return. He thought back to that final Samurai gig, the last one before Johnny vanished, he had to be dead, fifty years of nothing, Johnny would have made his presence known everyone had to know Johnny Silverhand. The first day he met Johnny, auditioning for Samurai, Johnny was impressed with his skills but critiqued his voice, not that Johnny was any better. Johnny Silverhand, somehow even when he was gone, his toxic shadow stayed stuck to you. Suddenly, he heard a loud clicking sound and then his sight was restored, except his was looking at his own body from another angle.

“Alright, your Echo Location has been installed and your optics are almost ready, just got to install them,” he heard Vik said as he saw movement and Vik installing his optics. Kerry’s vision went blurry for a brief moment before clearing and everything seemed sharper and brighter to him.

“What do you think?” Vik asked him.

“Goddamn, these are fucking preem,” he said and glanced at V, who seemed more attractive in his perspective. “You always had green eyes?” he asked V.

“Well your hearing and sight are going to be brilliant now, give your new sensors a try and see if you can hear anything outside. Kerry activated the sensors and saw a small green echo on the ceiling, he tuned into it to hear a meow.

“I can hear that cat outside, he sounds lonely though, that was a sad little cry he made,” Kerry said.

“Well they work, I’ll discuss your fee in a bit when I’m done with V, for now you can wait with Misty,” Vik said and handed him a Max. Doc. “Better take this to help while the implants take.” Kerry inhaled the Max. Doc and got out of the chair.

“Thanks Vik, V I’ll be upstairs,” he said and walked out of the clinic. He saw the cat again and gave it another pet, there was an urge to take the little guy home but he knew the cat maybe wouldn’t suit mansion life, seemed a little more comfortable where he was sitting. He headed back into Misty’s shop where she and Jackie were talking.

“You all done?” Misty asked him.

“Yeah, V’s getting his work done now,” Kerry answered and looked around the shop. “You a spiritualist Misty?”

“I am, I can sense you are too, you’ve got a strong aura, if you want I can give you a tarot reading, see what’s ahead for you,” she suggested. Kerry looked at her and shrugged.

“Why not,” he said and leaned on the counter. Misty shuffled her tarot deck and pulled out three cards and placed them down. She turned over each one revealing: The Hermit Reversed, The Lovers, and The Hanged Man. She studied the cards carefully and nodded slowly.

“You have been lonely for a long time now, locked inside a shadow, but you have a chance to break free, a hand has reached out to you, don’t be afraid to grab it, if you grab the hand, you can start something new,” she read. Kerry glanced at the cards.

“Am I the hermit or the hanged man?” he asked her.

“Depends on how you view it, see the hermit could represent your need for company, while the hanged man is how you’re viewing yourself, you’re not fully free,” she told him. He studied the cards, there’s an idea for a photoshoot. Kerry Eurodyne: The Hanged Man.

“You just gave me the first bit of inspiration I’ve had in six weeks, do you have any tarot card packs?” he asked her. Misty brought out a secondary pack of cards and placed them onto the table.

“It’s only twenty eddies,” she said. Kerry paid for them and took the cards. Perhaps he could use something with these.

“Thanks, so how do you two know V then?” Kerry asked turning his attention to Jackie who had been silent the whole time.

“All from Heywood, different neighbourhoods though, V and I met in the Coyote seven years back, both set up by a Fixer to do a small job together, started a long term friendship, I’m guessing his job from Padre was for you,” Jackie said.

“You don’t steal from Kerry Eurodyne,” Kerry told him. V walked back into the shop.

“Check it out Jack, new Kiroshi optics and Ballistic Coprocessor, sights, bullet count and ricochet,” he said holding up his hand and showing off the new implant.  
“Nice work V,” Jackie said impressed.

“Yeah, nice work,” Kerry agreed.

“Vik wants to discuss payments, mines on credit right now so I still owe Vik twenty-one thousand,” V told him.

“Back in a bit,” Kerry said and returned to Viktor.

* * *

Inside the clinic Vik was watching the fight when Kerry returned.

“How much for the implants then?” he asked him.

“Fifteen thousand eddies,” Vik answered. Kerry transferred the eddies and then an extra twenty-one thousand. “What’s this?” Vik wondered as the extra money went through.

“Don’t tell V okay, call it an Angel donation,” he said to him. Vik nodded slowly and went back to tinkering with his hand and watching the fight. Kerry returned to Misty’s where she was going over V’s tarot reading.

“The Sun is a good thing, the Lovers too, as for Judgment…that’s could mean a crossroads but that could be anywhere really,” Misty said.

“Lovers huh, a popular card today,” Jackie noted. Kerry holo buzzed he saw a message from his manager:

_Let’s talk biz, got word you’re in Heywood, lunch, Dark Matter, now!”_

“Hey I gotta delta, manager’s demanding my presence, thanks for the cards Misty, and V I’ll call you later, nice to meet you Jackie,” Kerry said to them.

“Alright Kerry, later,” V said. Kerry waved to them and left the shop, returning to the Delamain.

“Dark Matter Delamain and step on it, I have to meet my manager,” he told the car.

“Right away Mr Eurodyne,” Delamain answered and started to drive.

Kerry looked at the cards, in particular the Hanged Man. He could see it, himself hanging upside down from a chain, arms bound, maybe painted to look like chrome, like that Lizzy Wizzy.

“Hell I could do a whole photoshoot around these,” Kerry said looking at the other cards, big hooded robe for the Hermit, get another model in for the Lovers, there were some ideas brewing. First bit of inspiration in six weeks and it was a photoshoot, nothing to do with music, but it could be a promo for a new album. He activated his new sensors and started recording.

“Tarot, each card a song, no I can’t do a twenty-song album, maybe a two-part album: Tarot: Major Arcanum and Tarot: Minor Arcanum. Hanged Man photoshoot, chrome paint, chains, fucking artistic shit, will think more on these ideas later,” he said. He stopped recording a saw a new file logged: Audio 1. He renamed it to Tarot Cards and waited for the car to arrive at Dark Matter.

* * *

The car reached Dark Matter and parked as Kerry went up to the rooftop lounge where his manager Kovachek was waiting.

“Kerry, my man, where the fuck have you been?” he said to Kerry.

“Made a new friend, upgraded my chrome, the fuck do you want Kovachek, first bit of inspiration in weeks and you’re ruining it,” Kerry answered sitting down.

“Got a new project to talk to you about, Us Cracks,” Kovachek said.

“No, not interested, I don’t do crossovers,” Kerry told him flatly.

“You got no choice, girls want to cover your song User Friendly, told them it could be done, good promotion for the both of you,” Kovachek said.

“No,” Kerry said again. “They want to work with me, they come to me directly, not fucking you, you’re the reason my single Headspace tanked with that fucking awful auto tune.”

“Kerry, listen, bad enough you tried to end your life, and your last album didn’t sell well, but you need to fucking- oh one second, what!” Kovachek said just as his holo started to ring. Kerry sighed, activating his sensors to see if there was a mute button. Instead he saw a man highlighted in green in the far corner of the lounge alone on a phone. Curious, he tuned in, kept his head down and started to listen:

“The Silverhand Chip is secure.”

“Are you sure Saburo won’t find out?”

“If he does, he will have to pry it from me, I refuse to let him use this chip.”

“And if the Silverhand Engram gets out, you aren’t worried about it at all?”

“Silverhand will not be a problem.” Kerry gasped and kept listening:

“Of all the things, capturing a terrorist’s soul with the Soul Killer, what was Saburo thinking?”

“Johnny Silverhand is nothing more than a footnote in Arasaka history, Netwatch will pay greatly for his engram.”

“Where is it currently?”

“Konpeki Plaza, in my suite, being kept on ice.” Kerry tuned out and stood up. He had to go.

“Hey Kerry, where the fuck are you going, we’re not done here?” Kovachek demanded. Kerry ignored him going into the lift and pressing the button for the ground floor.

“Holy shit, what the fuck?” Kerry had to ask himself after hearing that conversation. He saw a new file logged: Audio 2. He labelled it Important and called V.

“Hey Kerry what’s up?” V answered.

“I need to talk to you about something big, where are you currently?”

“I’m heading to Lizzie’s bar, got to meet a client why?”

“When you get there, wait for me too,” Kerry said as he hung up and the lift opened. Delamain was still waiting thankfully.

“Lizzie’s bar, stat.” Kerry ordered.

“Lizzie’s bar is in a locked down area I’m afraid,” Delamain answered.

“Excelsior package, lockdowns don’t apply Delamain vehicles, you’re AI’s,” Kerry said.

“Very well Mr Eurodyne, I shall inform the NCPD at the blockade when we arrive,” Delamain said and started to drive. Kerry couldn’t believe this. Johnny was right this whole time, they had been after him.

“All this time I thought he was a paranoid anti-Corpo rocker, no he was right, they were after him and they most likely killed him too, fuck,” Kerry said to himself, fuck, Johnny and his crusade had a point the whole time.


	5. Braindance

V waited outside of Lizzie’s for Kerry, he sounded worried on the holo. He leaned against the wall next to the bouncer and saw a Delamain vehicle pull up. He saw Kerry get out and walk over to him.

“Hey Ker, you sounded frantic, what happened?” V asked him.

“Overheard something, Echo Location has a big range, who are you meeting?” Kerry replied.

“Someone named Evelyn Parker, not sure what the gig is but I was told to meet her by a Fixer,” V said.

“Fixer, which one, Rogue?”

“No, Dexter Deshawn, apparently it’s a big leagues job, Jackie my other friend T-Bug got the same call and is at the Afterlife meeting with the Fixer,” V said.

“Alright, well, we’ll get your meeting over with first, my news can wait,” Kerry said to him.

“Sure, are you okay Kerry?” V asked him with concern.

“Yeah, fine, perfect, just...big leagues job, don't let me wreck this moment for you,” Kerry said. V glanced at him curiously as the two of them went into Lizzie’s. They headed to the bar and sat down.

“Hello boys, what can I get you?” he asked them.

“Is there an Evelyn Parker here, got a meeting with her,” V said to him.

“Who’s asking?” the bartender asked.

“It’s alright Mateo, I was waiting for this one, V right?” a blue haired woman interrupted.

“That’s right,” V confirmed.

“Didn’t say you were bringing a friend,” she said with a glance towards Kerry.

“We also have business to discuss, I thought it better we discuss it here, seemed like a safer bet,” V said to her. Evelyn studied them both and looked at Kerry.

“I can trust you to keep a secret?” she asked him.

“Sure, kept plenty of them in my life,” Kerry replied.

“Then follow me, if anyone asks Mateo, we’re not here,” Evelyn said to the bartender. V and Kerry followed her into a private lounge and sat down on the seats.

“So V, Kerry Eurodyne,” she began.

“Should have guessed, you knew who I was,” Kerry said.

“From the back, generic rocker boy, but when I saw your neck, chrome was a dead giveaway, anyway I am here to discuss a business proposition V how would you like to make a million eddies overnight, I could offer you the same deal Kerry but…do you even need a million eddies,” Evelyn said.

“To do what?” V asked her.

“Yorinobu Arasaka is in town, and in his possession he has a very special Relic Biochip,” Evelyn began.

“Fuck no!” Kerry cried out.

“Excuse me,” Evelyn said in surprise at his outburst.

“You know about the Silverhand chip?” he asked her.

“How do you know about it?” Evelyn asked him.

“I fucking overheard Yorinobu Arasaka on the holo at Dark Matter talking about it, how the fuck do you know about it?” Kerry told her.

“I…have a…connection to Yorinobu, and I was told to get information about the Biochip, why do you know where it is?” Evelyn said.

“Konpeki Plaza, being kept on ice, whatever the fuck that means,” Kerry said. V had to wonder, the Biochip was something he knew about and he called it Silverhand.

“Why did you call it the Silverhand chip?” he asked him. Kerry sighed and looked down.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about V, I think Yorinobu just answered a fifty year old question for me, Johnny’s engram is on that particular Biochip, meaning Arasaka killed him, fuck, all his paranoia over Arasaka and he was right, they fucking killed him and then put him on a chip, how the fuck can they do that?” he said still not wanting to believe it.

“Precisely why we’re going after it, and why I managed to scroll a BD of Yorinobu’s suite in Konpeki Plaza, we need people to get in, get that chip and get out, I know people who want this chip and they want it out of NetWatch’s hands,” Evelyn said. “Now that you also know Kerry, this job might now be personal as well as business, no doubt you want to be part of this heist now?”

“If Johnny is on that chip, it fucking is personal, his engram is proof that Arasaka murdered him,” Kerry said to her.

“Then we best keep your involvement away from Dexter Deshawn, perhaps use your resources, can you provide transport and a way in?” Evelyn asked.

“I have the Delamain Excelsior package, Trauma Team Platinum, I’ve stayed at Konpeki Plaza before, at best I can get you into the hotel, no idea on how to get that chip,” Kerry explained to her.

“Wouldn’t Dexter DeShawn be handling all that?” V asked “If he’s the Fixer in charge of the gig.” Evelyn was quiet but then smiled.

“With Kerry, we don’t need Dex,” she said. “Soon as the Flathead is procured, we can toss him, use Kerry’s Delamain and his hotel room he can procure, an alibi to get you in and out of the hotel with the Biochip, now if you two will follow me, V I can show you the BD I scrolled.” V stood up, Kerry following and they followed Evelyn down into the basement of Lizzie’s where a girl sat watching a computer screen in a chair.

“Judy, this is V he needs to take a look at the BD I scrolled from Konpeki Plaza,” Evelyn said to the girl. She glanced up at V and Kerry.

“If you scrolled the BD, you caught it raw right?” Kerry asked Evelyn.

“Yes, very useful stuff, you know anything about raw BD’s?” she inquired.

“Scrolled one of my concerts, apparently the raw footage was too intense so it had to be heavily watered down in editing,” Kerry told her.

“Well we’ll need to calibrate V so he can get a look at the raw footage, it’s intense but if he gets through the testing footage, he’ll be able to sit through Evelyn’s BD footage comfortably,” Judy informed him. V was unsure, raw Braindance footage, but if it would help locate the relic then it would be fine.

“Sure, hook me up, calibrate me, we’ll find the chip, I just have to call in T-Bug before we look at Evelyn’s BD, she’s a netrunner, will know how to deal with any security,” V informed them.

“You never said a netrunner was going to be involved Evie,” Judy said her voice raised.

“Relax Judy, your name is being kept far away from this,” Evelyn assured her. V got into the chair as Judy hooked him up to the Braindance and started to show him some raw footage of a shop robbery to get him acquainted with the editor. Kerry, meanwhile, was concerned.

“Evelyn, private conversation, will booting the Fixer organising this cause problems, I don’t want V or his friend or even you to get on the bad side of a Fixer,” he said to her.

“Relax, when the Flathead is secure, they’ll talk with Dex at Afterlife, but instead of Dex’s Delamain car showing up, it’ll be your Delamain, your hotel suite, your story is you need the flathead,” she told him.

“Why would I need a Flathead?” Kerry asked.

“Rumours floating around about your recent home invasion, you want more security, V and his friend are the sales reps, you’re the client, easy, Dex might have a story all set up for a weapons dealer, but if shit goes down, Dex won’t hesitate to put a bullet in their skulls to save face, that’s why we’re cutting him loose,” Evelyn said.

“Then I need you to promise me shit won’t go down, you might only care about the money you’ll get from this chip but that’s my friend Arasaka put on it,” Kerry said to her.

“I promise,” she assured him.

“Alright I’m ready to see the Konpeki footage,” V said to Evelyn.

“Start it up Judy and remember, you need to see where Yorinobu is keeping the Biochip,” she said to him.

“Sure thing, just let me get T-Bug linked up and she can figure out security,” V said. Kerry got out his holo.

“I’m going to book the room, when are we going to need to check in?” Kerry asked Evelyn.

“Today, we need to get it out tonight,” she said.

“Alright,” he said and dialled for the hotel.

“Konpeki Plaza, how I help you?” said an automated sounding voice.

“Konkepi, Kerry Eurodyne, I need to book a suite for the night, I have some important sales reps coming to sell me some Militech shit and I’m going to need the Black Pearl suite for that,” he said in a cheerful tone.

“Of course Mr Eurodyne, I see the suite is available, are you checking in today?” the automated voice asked.

“Yes, I will be there within an hour to check in, my sales reps should be meeting me this evening,” Kerry confirmed.

“All set Mr Eurodyne, we await your arrival,” the voice said and disconnected.

“Alright I am going to Konpeki Plaza to check in, I’ll send Delamain to Afterlife to pick you up, just let me know when you've got your Flathead okay,” Kerry said to V. V responded with a thumbs up as he was in the middle of checking the Braindance.

Once V had checked the Braindance and had relayed all the necessary information with T-Bug, he got the call to go to see T-Bug, Jackie and Dexter Deshawn at Afterlife. One thing that worried V was Kerry’s involvement, it was personal, everyone knew Kerry and Johnny had a solid friendship in the past, rumours and speculations that Kerry had been in love with Johnny and his disappearance and cracked his perception on relationships. To find out that Johnny was now possibly a digital construct that had to hurt. Had he dragged Kerry into this? If something went wrong, V couldn’t bear to think what would happen if something went wrong with this heist.


	6. The Heist

Inside Konpeki Plaza, in the Black Pearl Suite on the seventieth floor, Kerry sat on the bed, barefoot, legs crossed, in a deep meditation. Breathing in and out slowly, Echo Location Sensors tuned in to hear see how far he could hear. Three floors down, a couple having an argument. Two floors up, music, Ponpon Shit, fucking awful music. Across the suite, someone watching a Bushido Movie, the ninth one, had that catchphrase that turned into a meme. Five floors above...either pornography played at full volume or kinky sex, hard to determine, no pornography, the music was generic, some public domain shit. Kerry had underestimated just how powerful these sensors were. A buzz interrupted his meditation and he opened one eye. He climbed off the bed and picked up the phone that was in the suite.

“What?” he answered.

“Mr Eurodyne, your guests are here,” said the concierge. V and Jackie had arrived then.

“Thanks for the information, send them up,” he said and hung up. He put his boots back on and left the suite walking to the lift. The doors opened up as Jackie and V stepped out in smart Militech suits, Jackie carrying the Flathead model.

“You’re here, did you get into my Delamain car and not Dex’s?” Kerry asked them.

“Yeah, I double-checked, like triple-checked, the car’s in the garage waiting for us with our weapons,” V informed him.

“I can’t believe you’re part of this heist and we are screwing Dexter over, you know he’s going to be pissed when he finds out right,” Jackie said.

“If he is, he can kiss my ass, not letting him sell you guys out if something goes wrong, I’ve seen it happen time and time again with Fixer’s like him, Rogue is the same, screw with her and she will bury you deep,” Kerry said. “Now link me up into your little call you got going, we’ve figured out my other role in this little heist, keep an eye on Yorinobu, hotel knows I’m here, which means Yorinobu will know, soon as he’s out of his suite, I’m going to find him probably in the lobby and do something to get his attention, you need to get in and out with that chip.” They followed him back to the suite and set up the Flathead bot.

“Alright, let’s get this little guy into the vents so he can get to work,” Jackie said as Kerry sat back onto the bed.

“Depending on where you’re sending the bot, don’t send it to the seventy-fifth floor,” Kerry told them.

“Why not?” V wondered.

“Trust me on this, these new eardrums from your Ripperdoc can hear way more than just cats and sirens,” he assured them.

“Ah the damn thing’s stuck, V you need to get in control of it manually,” T-Bug said on the call.

“Why me?” V asked.

“You’ve got the Kiroshis’, my tech is last gen,” Jackie said and handed the chip over to him. Kerry watched as V wandered around the suite. When the flathead bot had the Netrunner in its grasp, they now had to wait.

“Well looks like we’re waiting, I’ll keep an eye on things, you guys…I don’t know talk about sports or something, it could be a while,” T-Bug said to them.

“Talk about sports, honey, I talk about music, and spirituality…and the story that began with a shot of tequila and ended with me streaking through the streets of Night City, my bare ass ended up on all the news outlets that week,” Kerry said to her.

“Weren’t you at a charity auction when that happened?” Jackie asked him. Kerry nodded and started laughing.

“Fifty-thousand eddies and I’ll streak through Night City ass on display, I alone raised two hundred thousand eddies on that promise alone,” he said. A stupid thing to do, but two hundred thousand eddies went to a good cause.

* * *

Three hours passed and nothing had been heard from Yorinobu’s penthouse. Jackie however, had made a comment about T-Bug having a stick up her ass, which even though she had been silent, Kerry knew had pissed her off. He and V had chatted some more, V getting a little more insight on Kerry’s post-Samurai life and Kerry learning more about V’s roots in Heywood.

“Where are you from then Kerry, Night City born?” Jackie asked him.

“I’m from Masbate in the Philippines, born there, lived there for a short while before my family moved to Night City, I go back every so often, need to get back to my roots you know, sometimes this place makes it easy to forget that,” Kerry replied.

“I know what you mean, Heywood is my home, I never let myself forget it,” Jackie said.

“Okay, Yorinobu just left his suite, you guys are up and be quick,” T-Bug said on the holo.

“I’ll head down first, try and keep Yorinobu occupied,” Kerry said getting off the bed. They left the suite and headed to the lift. Kerry went in first and pressed for the ground floor.

“Alright, in and out, no dicking around, this is not something I want to bring up to a therapist or a cop,” Kerry said to them.

“We will,” V assured him. The lift opened up on the ground floor and Kerry stepped out.

“Okay he’s in the bar, I’m going in,” Kerry said and approached Yorinobu.

“Yorinobu Arasaka, holy crap it’s nice to finally meet you, Kerry Eurodyne,” he said with gusto and a smile. Yorinobu gave him a scrutinising glance but smiled cordially.

“Mr Eurodyne, how good to see you, how is the music business?” he asked him.

“I’ve got some good ideas brewing up here, my manager Kovachek wanted me to maybe consider working with Arasaka to maybe promote one of your new innovative ideas coming to market, but I told him if I was going to work with Arasaka, I’d have to work with you and I don’t know if you’d ever want to give me the time of day,” Kerry said, he was spewing any bullshit to keep his attention as he then heard V on the holo:

“Jacking in now.”

“Ah, Smasher,” Yorinobu said with a bow to Adam Smasher. Kerry gasped and was slightly terrified but fascinated. A living legend, and from Rogue’s story, the man who took out Johnny.

“Adam Smasher, holy shit, the legends did not do you justice, you are terrifying,” he exclaimed to the cyborg.

“That is my intention, you are Kerry Eurodyne…I don’t like your music,” Adam Smasher said. Kerry laughed nervously.

“Love your honesty, love it, love a guy who’s honest, I’d ask for an autograph if you didn’t scare the shit out of me.”

“Biochip integrity at one hundred percent,” Kerry heard Jackie say.

“If you will excuse me Mr Eurodyne, we must go,” Yorinobu said.

“Get out of there now!” T-Bug cried.

“Wait!” Kerry cried to Yorinobu. “Not just yet, I can’t let you leave yet without asking how the rest of the Arasaka family is.”

“My family are fine, Mr Eurodyne, but I must meet with my father, it is important,” Yorinobu said. Kerry needed one more minute of stalling.

“Wait, don’t give him….the satisfaction,” Kerry said, what the fuck was he trying to say then?

“What do you mean?” Yorinobu asked.

“We’re in the lift,” V confirmed.

“Why not make him wait, you plan to be CEO of Arasaka soon right, you let him know that when you’re CEO, you will not bend to his beck and call, you’re not a puppet, you’re the man, you’re the boss, you’re Yori-fucking-nobu,” Kerry said, he was sounding insane right now, people were watching, probably wondering if he was high as a kite. Yorinobu laughed.

“Rebelliousness, we must go, but…I will think on your…advice,” he said and his face went stone cold.

“We’re back in the suite Kerry,” V said. Kerry sighed.

“Thank you for your time,” he said with a smile to Yorinobu. Adam Smasher glared at him and they both went into the lift.

“Fuck me, this is why I don’t like to improvise,” he said. What was this rising emotion, panic, anxiety, oh crap anxiety, not good.

“What was that shit Kerry?” Jackie asked laughing.

“Get your asses down here now we’re getting out of here, Saburo Arasaka just might be in the hotel right now and I do not want to be here if he is, especially because Yorinobu bought a fucking human tank into the hotel,” Kerry said.

“You can get into the lift guys, Yorinobu and Smasher are back in the Penthouse,” T-Bug confirmed. Kerry could feel his heart beating very fast, was that from Smasher scaring the ever living shit out of him or the adrenaline from trying to keep Yorinobu’s attention? When the lift opened and he saw V step out, he walked straight up to him, throwing his arms around him tight.

“Kerry, you okay?” V asked him surprised by this hug.

“We need to fucking leave,” he said, somehow this was grounding, physical contact from V, was it too much he thought before V embraced his hug.

“Hey, Kerry, look at me, you’re okay, you did great,” he assured him.

“Thanks V, I don’t want to stay here too long, let’s get to the garage,” Kerry said and let him go. The three of them made their way to the garage, stepping out of the lift before an alert sounded.

“Code Red, all guests must return to their room and await further instructions from staff,” an automated voice.

“Oh shit,” Kerry muttered as Delamain opened its door.

“Everyone in the car,” V said. Kerry got into the front as V and Jackie got into the back of the car with the chip.

“Delamain, North Oak and step on it, they’re about to lock us in,” Kerry ordered.

“Right away Mr Eurodyne,” Delamain answered and started to drive. Kerry looked out the window, AV’s in the air, Arasaka on the ground, fuck this was bad.

“What the fuck just happened?” V asked.

“Oh shit, guys, guys, I can’t, AHHHH!” T-Bug yelled before she was disconnected.

“T-Bug, T-Bug!” Jackie cried. “Shit, what the fuck’s going on?” Kerry quickly checked the in-car TV and saw a breaking news bulletin.

“Oh fuck!”

“We have breaking news from Konpeki Plaza, Arasaka CEO Saburo Arasaka has been murdered, reports coming in say that his body was discovered by his son Yorinobu Arasaka after returning to his penthouse in Konpeki Plaza, currently there are no suspects-.”

“FUCK!” V shouted. “What the fuck, we were gone for two goddamn minutes, we left before he even entered the penthouse!”

“We have the biochip that’s the important part,” Jackie said.

“And when Yorinobu finds the Biochip is also gone?” V asked him.

“Guys, calm the fuck down, we had no idea Saburo was going to show up, we have no idea what happened to him, dude could have walked two steps and dropped dead, all we can do is keep this chip as far away from Arasaka and your Fixer,” Kerry told them.

“Kerry’s right, right now Dex is waiting for us at the No-Tell Motel, when he hears of this and we don’t show up, he’s going to be mad, we need to plan, fuck, Saburo Arasaka croaking it wasn’t something we were anticipating,” V said. Kerry sighed and breathed in and out slowly. Johnny Silverhand, once again fucking up his life.


	7. Trauma Team

Kerry had the gates locked as soon as the car was back in the driveway of his North Oak mansion. His security bots were on high alert and he made sure Jackie and V were inside and the doors were all locked. Inside the house, it was sparkling like the cleaning ladies had promised and Jackie and V were staring at the case with the biochip.

“So this is it huh, Johnny Silverhand is on this chip, can we talk to him?” Jackie asked.

“If it’s a relic chip, I don’t think that’s how it works, gotta be away to safely activate it, plus it’s a prototype, thing could kill you if something goes wrong,” V said.

“No one’s touching that thing, you mess with Johnny Silverhand he fucks you up in more ways than one, believe me, you call Evelyn?” Kerry replied.

“Not yet, I sent her a message, saying we’ve got the chip and we’re in a safe location away from Dexter DeShawn, we’re just waiting on her now,” V explained to him.

“I need to call Misty, let her know I won’t be home tonight,” Jackie said getting up, he walked away with his holo leaving V and Kerry alone.

“Are you okay Kerry, you seemed really freaked out,” V said to him. Kerry sighed and sat down next to V.

“I was fucking terrified V, too many memories were coming back look you weren’t even a fleck of dust in the universe when Arasaka tower blew up, I remember Rogue coming back and telling me that Adam Smasher shot Johnny, you don’t forget shit like that. Knowing that this…this little strip of plastic and metal is the remains of my best friend, it’s 2023 all over again,” Kerry told him. V said nothing, but rubbed Kerry’s arm and then wrapped his arm around his shoulders.

“You came through for us, you gave us enough time to get out of there alive, I was worried this plan was too perfect and yeah it went off the rails at the end but…we’re alive, that counts for something right?” V asked him. Kerry didn’t say anything, what could he say? He sighed and leaned on V’s shoulder, a blissful moment as Jackie walked back and then stopped, taking a couple steps back around the corner. V’s holo started to buzz as Evelyn called. Kerry sat up as V removed his arm from Kerry’s shoulders and answered his holo.

“Eve, we got the chip and it’s secure,” he said. Jackie then return from hiding around the corner.

“Good, but Dexter is pissed, somehow he found out you got Kerry involved and that we were squaring him out of the deal, he is on the war path, especially because you’re not at the No-Tell Motel,” Evelyn told them.

“Shit, what was the next plan for the chip?” V asked her.

“Scan it and take it to Pacifica…the reason we want to keep it out of Net Watch’s hands is because we’re giving it to the Voodoo Boys,” Evelyn said.

“No, no way, if Johnny’s on this thing, I need to find a way to talk to him, fucker owes me a few explanations,” Kerry said.

“And the Voodoo Boys can help with that, if you can stay off Dex’s radar until the morning, you’ll go to Pacifica and meet with Maman Brigitte, look for a guy named Placide, he will take you to her, I have to delta,” Evelyn said and hung up.

“Okay go to Pacifica, find a guy named Placide who will take us to a Maman Brigitte who we give the chip to, tangling with the Voodoo Boys, great,” V said and looked down at the floor.

“At least we know where to go next, question is if we still get-,” suddenly a pair of Mantis blades stabbed through Jackie as Kerry looked up to see a cybernetic assassin pull the blades out and Jackie fall to the ground.

“Jackie!” V cried as Kerry jumped off the couch, pulled out Archangel and started to shoot, three bullets left the gun and pierced the assassin as the assassin whipped out a tech pistol and fired.

“Fuck,” Kerry yelled as one bullet hit his shoulder and the second bullet hit his arm, immediately he heard something, his Trauma Team Platinum had been activated.

“Kerry Eurodyne, Trauma Team Platinum has been activated and an AV has dispatched, ETA two minutes,” the automated voice said as he grabbed his shoulder and fired again, missing and shooting the wall. V ran forward towards the assassin and punched the assassin hard, they staggered back and he grabbed them and with a swift move, Kerry heard a cracking sound of the assassin’s neck breaking.

“Jackie!” V cried as he dropped the assassin and went to his friend’s side.

“Trauma Team’s coming, how the fuck did they get in?” Kerry had to wonder as he dropped to his knees.

“Kerry, fuck you’re bleeding!”

“Shot me, I’m fine the bullets activated my Trauma Team insurance, here” he said pulling the case off the table and pushing it along the floor to V. “Hide the chip.”

“Where?” V said in panic as he scrambled to the case, while trying to put pressure of Jackie’s stab wounds.

“Neural port, go, they won’t scan you for it, just keep it out of sight, there could be more coming,” Kerry said as the bleeding started to get worse. “Ah shit, I don’t think that was a clean shot in my shoulder!” Bright lights lit up the outside of the mansion as an AV landed on the driveway and four medics burst through the door just as V pushed the chip into his neural port.

“Go, go!” one of the medics said as two rushed to Jackie with a stretcher, and one towards Kerry.

“We’ve got three casualties, I repeat three casualties,” the medic said.

“Call NCPD, I was attacked by an unmarked assassin, that fucker with the blades for arms,” Kerry said as V helped Kerry to his feet.

“Are you family sir?” the medic asked V as the two medics carried Jackie to the AV.

“He’s my partner, I need him with me,” Kerry said and grabbed V’s hand, no way he was leaving without him.

“I need a call for an NCPD dispatch, home invasion, Eurodyne Residence in North Oak, three casualties, one the attacker, one Mr Eurodyne and a third party, scan results ID him as Jaquito Welles, bringing in now,” the medic said on their holo.

“Dispatching, first responder on the way,” Trauma Team

“Affirmative.”

* * *

As the AV carried them away towards Night City Medical, one medic looked over Jackie’s information.

“This patient has no Trauma Care insurance,” a medic said as they pressurised his wounds.

“Put it on my insurance, what’s he going to need, those were Mantis Blades that got him,” Kerry asked.

“Is he going to be alright?” V said with worry.

“Our surgeons are the best, we’ll do everything we can sir,” the medic answered.

“Coming up on NCM, brace for landing, this is AV-639 we have two patients incoming, one in critical condition, we need to prep for surgery right away,” the pilot said on the holo.

“Copy that, Doctor Reed has been paged.”

The AV landed on the landing pad where more medics were waiting. Four immediately took Jackie and got him into surgery while two took Kerry and V to the Platinum Suite for medical attention, a professional Ripperdoc on hand to assess any cybernetic damage. V waited outside one of the treatment rooms while Kerry had the bullets from his shoulder and arm removed, a call from Mama Welles incoming.

“V, where is my son, is he alright?” she asked him rife with worry.

“He’s in surgery, thank Christ for Kerry’s Trauma Team Platinum,” V told her.

“What happened?”

“Someone attacked him, used Mantis Blades, they shot Kerry too, but we don’t know who did it or why.”

“Find out who, make them pay for my son, if anything should happen,” Mama Welles said fighting the urge to not cry on the holo.

“I will Mama Welles, count on it, I killed the guy who stabbed him, but they were a message, I’ll find the person who sent them,” V assured her.

“Thank you V, I must speak with Padre, call me when my Jaquito is out of surgery,” Mama Welles said and hung up. V sighed and leaned back in the chair as the door opened and the doctor stepped out.

“Got the bullets out, patched him up, you can see him now,” the doctor said.

“Thanks doc, if you can, let me know how my friend is doing, his mom’s worried sick,” V said to the doctor.

“There won’t be much news right now, but I will make sure to let you know as soon as he is out of surgery,” the doctor said. “If you’ll excuse me.” The doctor went down the hall and V stepped inside the treatment room, Kerry was lying on top of the bed, freshly bandaged and arm in a sling.

“Hey, still alive, but I had to know, will I ever play the guitar again…yeah I will,” he said with a half-hearted chuckle. V sat down on the bed as Kerry sat up slightly. “Johnny once shot me in the thigh during a gig, I still finished the solo and as soon as I hit that last note, I passed out and woke up being patched up, you okay, how’s Jackie?”

“Still in surgery, his mom called so I let her know he was there, you think this was Dex’s doing?”

“If it was, then I have another reason to kick Johnny’s digital ass,” Kerry answered. “You okay, you weren’t hurt at all?”

“No, I’m okay, nurse made sure I was okay,” V said, Kerry reached forward and took V’s hand, holding it tight.

“He’s going to be okay,” Kerry assured him. V gave him a half smile. “How’s the chip, it doing anything?

“No, seems to be quiet,” he answered and leaned into Kerry. “Been a crazy couple of days.”

“It has.” A nurse knocked on the door and opened it, V sitting up as she walked in.

“Excuse me, Mr Eurodyne, there’s a police officer here to see you,” she informed him.

“Send them in,” he said. The nurse gestured to someone as a guy in casual clothing, carrying a badge walked into the room.

“Mr Eurodyne, Detective River Ward, NCPD, need to ask some questions about the attack,” he said to them.

“Some psycho stabbed his friend, shot me in the shoulder and arm and my partner here broke said psycho's neck, is he getting arrested?” Kerry asked.

“No one’s getting arrested, just have a few questions, you were attacked at your residence but witnesses did see you and two other people, all leaving Konpeki Plaza moments before the hotel was locked down,” River informed them.

“It a crime to book a hotel room for several hours?” Kerry asked.

“No, but it’s for the report.”

“I had to get my place cleaned today, so I booked the Black Pearl suite to get in some meditation, told them to meet me at Konpeki,” Kerry explained.

“And the fact you were also seen talking to Yorinobu Arasaka too?”

“Figured I’d say hi, my manager has been on my ass about trying to get a sponsorship deal with Arasaka, was a chance to talk business if only for a moment,” Kerry told him. River noted that down and looked at V.

“And you, anything else?” he asked V. V didn’t answer and just shook his head. “Well short report then, your mansion is now considered a crime scene for now because forensics need to sweep the place, figure out how the assailant got in, got a place you can stay?”

“I have an apartment in Watson, but the district’s been locked down,” V told him.

“No worries, squad car outside can get you through the blockade, thanks for the information though,” River replied. He started to turn before stopping.

"You're a merc right?" he asked V

"Yeah, why?" V asked.

"Just a feeling, well I have to report this in, you take care now," River said to him and left the room.

“Well you wanted to see my apartment, now you get to,” V said breaking the silence as soon as River was out of sight.

“Yeah, we’ll wait for the doc to get back and also check on your friend,” Kerry said. V nodded and then saw a screen flash up and vanish. Relic Installing: 0%. V shook his head in puzzlement as the doctor arrived.

“Good news Mr Eurodyne, you’re good to go, as for news on your friend Mr Welles, he’s just got out of surgery if you want to inform his mother, but you should know there was a lot of damage done to him,” the doctor said.

“How bad?” V asked.

“Mr Welles has been put in a medically induced coma so we can monitor him, but at this stage it’s the best we can do to hope for any recovery,” the doctor told him. V looked down and nodded slowly.

“Alright, thanks doc, we should get going,” he said. He could only hope Jackie would make it.


	8. Watson

V and Kerry returned back to V’s small apartment in the early hours of the morning. As the door opened, V walked in and dropped his bag on the floor and went to the window, rain had just started.

“This is your place huh, definitely miles above my shitty loft, you have running water right?”

“Hot water all day,” V answered. “Well now the tables have turned, you let me stay with you because of Watson lockdown, now you’re staying with me because your house is a crime scene.” It certainly was strange in Kerry’s mind, but also meant he hadn’t felt so grey in two days.

“I guess so…shit, my anti-depressants are in North Oak,” he said realising his meds were now locked up. “Perfect, know a pharmacy nearby?”

“There’s one a couple blocks away, you want to go now or later?”

“Later, I’m fucking exhausted.”

“I’m going to shower, wash the blood off me, you can watch TV or sleep,” V suggested. He felt awkward, famous rock star standing in his apartment and he didn’t look out of his element. Kerry seemed to fit in anywhere.

“I will sit on the couch and check the news, Saburo Arasaka being dead is going to be all over it,” Kerry said and sat down. As V stepped into his shower and started to pull off his clothes, realising this apartment was not exactly suited to two people, he listened to the news report.

“In another story, last night following the attack on Saburo Arasaka, Night City rocker boy Kerry Eurodyne was admitted to Night City Medical following an attack at his North Oak residence, Mr Eurodyne was admitted with a severe gunshot wounds while a second victim, Heywood mercenary Jaquito Welles, was attacked with Mantis Blades, police are investigating to see if this was the result of a Cyberpsycho attack or perhaps an attempt on the musician’s life, Mr Eurodyne was recently a victim of a home invasion in which one of his signature guitars was stolen, this marks a second attack in six days,” the news reporter said.

“How’d they find out about the guitar, I went specifically to a Fixer because I wanted it kept quiet,” Kerry said. V turned on the hot water and started to wash the blood off himself, no way they could get to Pacifica now. Looks like Maman Brigitte would have to wait. Evelyn though would still be in Watson at Lizzie’s. Maybe after some sleep, he would go there, show her the chip. He stepped out of the shower, grabbed a towel, wrapping it around his waist and hesitated…he had seen Kerry in a silk robe, he had no robes, just this towel, which was feeling small to wear.

“Don’t be a gonk,” V muttered to himself and stepped out into the apartment.

“Anything new to report?” he asked Kerry.

“Just that the entirety of Night City now knows I got shot, they think it’s a Cyberpsycho that attacked me or I’m being targeted.”

“When it was really Dexter DeShawn,” V said grabbing clothes from his closet. He quickly changed while Kerry still had his eyes to the TV screen.

“We have a problem though, can’t get to Pacifica now,” Kerry told him.

“I know but we can still talk to Evelyn, she’ll be at Lizzie’s with Judy, I still have her number, but sleep first,” V said going to his bed.

“Sure, sure, I might hit the shower then, you don’t have a spare mattress do you?”

“No, I have a perfectly good couch or the space in my bed, I assume you’ve not been above sleeping with your bandmates in a tiny tour bus right?”

“That was how Samurai started, waking up with Johnny’s boot in your face or Henry passed out on you because he got high again, Nancy and Denny, they were smart, used the groupies for room and board, I should have done that would have saved some painful nights,” Kerry explained. V laughed and laid back in his bed.

“Sure, I’d say goodnight but it’s seven in the morning so, good morning I guess,” V said and settled down. Kerry chuckled, a smile directed at the merc that held for a moment before he walked into the bathroom.

* * *

V was soon asleep in his bed when Kerry got out the shower. Kerry got back into his underwear and jeans back on, sneaking over to the closet and finding an old plain shirt, he put it on realising that it was a good size bigger than him. The couch did look comforting, but V also did too. Kerry stood there, thinking as he saw V turn over. Kerry walked over to the bed and sat down, this was fucking awkward in his head. Couch or no couch. He felt a tug at the shirt and he looked to see V had his eyes open.  
“You joining me or not, come on, bed’s big enough for two,” he said. Kerry took the offer and laid down and faced V.

“Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure?”

“Why did you take the guitar job a couple days back?” Kerry wondered. V thought for a moment, then chuckled slightly.

“Because I wanted to meet you, and also get back at Gaston for the shit he tried to pull with my jacket, I thought I was being a total gonk at first, until you asked if I wanted to stay over, felt like a dream almost,” V replied.

“Because you couldn’t believe it?”

“Because I didn’t think I was the kind of person Kerry Eurodyne would want for a friend.” Kerry smirked a little and reached for V’s hand. “I guess I was wrong.”

“You have no idea how good it was to see you walk to my door with that guitar, like time was moving again,” Kerry said.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” The moment quietened down between them. V subtly bit his lip as he glanced at the rocker, wondering would it be the right moment.

“Ker…I-,” V began before Kerry kissed him. Well that answered his question. Only took them thirty-six hours. But it was amazing to V, his in his apartment, in his bed, was Kerry Eurodyne. Kerry climbed onto V, the merc beneath him, a too perfect moment to waste.

Buzz.

They paused, a holo, whose holo? Kerry checked his pocket and sure enough, it was Kovachek.

“I fucking hate this guy, what the fuck do you want?” Kerry said answering the holo.

“What the fuck happened yesterday to you Kerry, you left lunch, you checked into Konpeki Plaza, left moments before Saburo Arasaka was found dead and then I hear that you got shot, twice, in your mansion, did you fucking murder the CEO of Arasaka to draw up publicity for yourself?” Kovachek yelled into the holo. Kerry sighed, sitting up, still straddling V, well his boner was dead now.

“First off, thank you so much for killing the moment I was in, great job, secondly I didn’t fucking murder Arasaka, you think I’m capable of killing the CEO of Night’s City’s biggest corp, jeez you’re a dumb fuck, thirdly, I had shit to do, shit that’s important, and finally, I was attacked in my own home, I got a friend in a coma right now, thanks for your concern by the way,” Kerry told him. V was trapped but this was an entertaining argument to hear.

“I don’t fucking care Kerry, get your ass down to the studio, you’re meeting with the Us Cracks to discuss them covering your song User Friendly,” Kovachek demanded.

“The fuck I am, I’m stuck in Watson which is locked down,” Kerry replied just as harshly.

“Why the fuck are you in Watson?”

“Should we tell him?” V commented sarcastically.

“Who the fuck is that, who the fuck are you with right now?” Kovachek demanded again.

“None of your business, tell those Ass Cracks, if they want to talk about a collaboration they can drag their flat asses down to Watson to meet me and talk then,” Kerry said and hung up the holo. “I need a new manager, preferably one who’s not a psychopath.”

“Why do you let him boss you around like that?” V asked sitting up.

“I don’t, he’s just too stubborn to see it, thinks it’s the rocker attitude, but now I’m too riled up to sleep, want breakfast?” Kerry asked him.

“Breakfast sounds good, we can drop by a pharmacy and then stop by Lizzie’s, it’ll be closed but one of the Mox’s at the door should let us in,” V said to him. Kerry gave him a half smile and climbed off him.

“Alright Tom Diner then?”

“Yes, their pancakes are great,” V agreed. Another imaged flashed before V’s eyes: Relic Installing: 10%

“Oh that can’t be good,” V muttered. The Relic was installing, what did that mean?


	9. Goro Takemura

V and Kerry headed to Tom’s Diner for breakfast, a casual affair, only interrupted by a Japanese man yelling at Tom to keep the TV tuned to the story of Saburo Arasaka. V studied the man, he had Arasaka branded Cyberware, but when V caught his eye there was a stone-cold glare as he left the diner. A shiver down his spine, such a strange person, he wondered. Kovachek kept trying to call and finally Kerry had enough and, with Tom’s permission, threw the holo into a deep fryer. Off the grid for a few hours would probably be good for him.

“He’s going to be disappointed,” Kerry said.

“How long do you think you can keep it up before he just fires you from your label?” V asked.

“If he wants this Us Cracks collaboration, he will stretch it pretty thin, how’s the biochip holding up?” Kerry asked him. V was silent for a good moment before nodded.

“It’s holding up great,” he said, not something he wanted to share, this was bad news bears.

“Good thing too, do you think you should jump the blockade and speak to Kovachek?”

“Nah, we’ll chill at Lizzie’s while you and your friends have a chat, actually, why don’t you head there first, I need to go to the pharmacy, Lowtown meds have got to be cheaper than what I currently pay,” Kerry said to him.

“Lowtown huh, figured you’d need the premium shit,” V commented.

“Pretty sure my premium shit is just pure sugar designed to give me a boost and then crash me six hours later, Lowtown actually seems to work for me, doesn’t block the creativity either,” Kerry explained.

“Alright, well I’m going to find Evelyn, meet me at Lizzie’s later,” V leaned forward, paused, realising what he was wanting to do then stood up awkwardly. “Later.” Kerry watched V walk away, he knew what V had wanted to do, kiss him goodbye. He finished his coffee and went to pay Tom.

“The extra is for letting me fry my holo,” Kerry said handing over the money.

“Thanks Kerry, was nice to see your face again, it’s been what two years, since you were last in here,” Tom said.

“I got busy, but I’m here in Watson for the time being, so I’ll probably be here regularly,” Kerry said to him.

“Good to hear, you ever need to fry another holo, give me a shout.”

“Take care Tom,” Kerry said and walked out of the diner.

As he went to go out onto the main street, Kerry felt a hand grab his shoulder tight and someone come up close to him.

“We need to talk,” he glanced, the man from the diner who had an argument with Tom.

“About what?”

“About how you indirectly murdered Saburo Arasaka.” Kerry froze, Saburo Arasaka, fuck his rebel bullshit was coming back to bite him in the ass.

“I have somewhere to be,” he said not taking his eyes off the man.

“Where?”

“A Pharmacy.”

“Then I shall walk with you, I shall speak, you shall listen,” the man said. Kerry breathed out and started to walk. The man following close with a stern expression.

“My name is Goro Takemura, I served under Arasaka-sama for many years, I was loyal to him, we came to Night City to recover something from Yorinubo, but as you know, it did not go smoothly…for you see, Yorinobu murdered his own father, patricide, but I know you want to know what it has got to do with you, Yorinobu spoke to you minutes before he met with his father and within minutes Saburo was dead, before I was told to leave the room, I heard Yorinobu say ‘I was advised not to give you the satisfaction of showing up on time’ something I am told you said to him…is it true?” Kerry didn’t look at Goro but he answered cordially.

“Yeah, I told him that.”

“What else did you say to Yorinobu, answer me, so that I may decide what to do with this information, and you better tell the truth,” Goro said to him.

“I told him, that when he is CEO, he will not bend to his beck and call, that he will not be his puppet, that he is-,”

“Yori-fucking-nobu,” Goro finished. Kerry smirked, he should have known.

“A test, of course, make sure I’m not lying, know this…Yorinobu killing his own father has nothing to do with me, I didn’t give him the gun, the knife or however he killed him,” he said to Goro as he saw the pharmacy ahead of him across the road.

“You might not have strangled Saburo, but you gave Yorinobu the drive to, you are just as much responsible,” Goro told him as they crossed the road. Kerry shook his head.

“So I guess that means the chip if the least of your concerns then,” he said.

“How do you know about the chip?” Goro asked him suspiciously as they reached the pharmacy. Kerry turned to him and pointed to his temple.

“I’ll tell you that, when you tell me why my best friend was on that chip…you tell me why Arasaka has the psyche of my long dead friend and I’ll tell you exactly why Yorinobu was late to meeting his father,” Kerry said. Goro said nothing but merely glared at Kerry, a stand-off.

“No explanation from you, no explanation from me, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to get something,” Kerry said, more silence as he walked into the pharmacy and up to the counter.

“Got any Lowtown Lithium,” he said to the bored girl at the counter.

“Fifty eddies,” she answered flat. Kerry complied and paid the money, she handed over a small bottle. He quickly opened it and took two pills.

“Thanks kid,” he said, pocketing the pills and heading outside where Goro stood, still waiting.

“Oh I thought we were done, see because you didn’t answer my question,” Kerry said. Every word seemed to be regressing him back into that mouthy rocker boy from the tens and twenties that knew how to talk back to Corpos.

“You play rebel but you stopped being one long ago, your words are empty,” Goro said to him. Kerry scoffed at Goro.

“And you’re a dog…jump scruffy,” Kerry said with a mocking tone to Goro. He did not find it amusing and revealed a pistol at his side.

“A dog is loyal, a rocker boy is empty words at the bottom of a glass,” he said.

“We’re done Goro, your little inquisition fell short of whatever it was that you wanted,” Kerry told him. Goro said nothing as Kerry turned and walked away. Goro pulled out his holo and dialled a number.

“I spoke to Kerry Eurodyne…he knew about the chip, I suspect he probably knows where it is…yes…it shall be returned…yes Arasaka-sama, I shall see you then,” he said and hung up the holo. Three new pictures were sent to him, he opened them up. Kerry, Jackie, and V, all in Konpeki Plaza seen walking towards the lift with the briefcase. He closed the holo and started to walk away.

* * *

Kerry arrived at Misty’s Esoterica where she was sitting at the counter, looking at a picture of her and Jackie.

“Hey Misty…you okay?” he asked her. She looked up, wiped her eyes and nodded.

“Hi Kerry, yeah I uh…I got off the holo with Night City Medical, they couldn’t tell me much because I’m not family just that he’s in a coma and stable,” she said to him. Kerry walked up to the counter and leaned on it.

“He’s in the Platinum suite at Night City Medical, they’re going to fix him back up and he’s going to come back with a smile on his face and the first thing he’s going to want to see is you, okay?” Kerry said to her. Misty nodded and smiled slightly.

“Thanks, you’ve a good heart, it’s good V found you when he did,” she said to him.

“Mind if I hang out here for a bit then?”

“Sure.” Kerry went and sat in one of the chairs, leaned back and tuned into his sensors. Gary the Street Prophet was rambling nonsense, someone was getting kicked out a club.

“Maybe I should move out of North Oak, there any good places in Watson?” he asked Misty.

“There is that penthouse, owner moved out recently because he lost everything at the Crystal Palace, no one’s bought it yet.” Kerry thought about it, maybe a penthouse in Watson could be nice.

“How big the garden?” he asked.

“Pretty big from what I hear,” Misty replied. Kerry like the sound of that, maybe make a zen garden so he could meditate, maybe do some yoga.

“I should call V…wait no I deep-fried my holo, I’ll need a new one,” Kerry sat up. He was going to need to get a new one, there’d be someone in Watson to sell him one. “I’ll see you later Misty and remember, he’ll be okay.” Misty was comforted by his words and she pulled out a tarot card from her deck. The Tower. She looked up but Kerry was gone, the tower.

“Change is coming and not for the better,” she whispered.


	10. The Tower

Arasaka Tower. Hanako Arasaka sat in her office, her trusted bodyguard Oda, by her side as a Corpo walked in.

“Takemura-sama is here,” he announced.

“Send him in,” she said casually as she turned on some Chopin. She watched with intrigue as Goro Takemura walked into the office and bowed before her.

“Arasaka-sama, Oda-san,” he said with rife purpose as he avoided her steely gaze.

“So, you spoke to Kerry Eurodyne and he knows about the biochip,” she said.

“Yes, his attitude regarding the chip was most unusual he mentioned his long dead best friend,” Goro explained.

“Johnny Silverhand, my father thwarted him ending his reign of terror on our family, you looked at the two associates of Mr Eurodyne yes?”

“Only one, Mr Welles is in a coma at Night City Medical, but this ‘V’ I have not located him,” Goro said to her. Hanako traced the rim of the wine glass on her desk and stood up.

“A peculiar turn of events, our short-term lockdown of Watson, my own brother murdering our father because of the words of a skeevy rocker boy, his associates being street rats who dream of being big in this city and they steal the very thing that was going to keep my father alive for centuries to come, I cannot have it, Yorinobu will have his day in court, but I want that chip back and when it is recovered, I am wiping Johnny Silverhand from it permanently, a cyber prison is not enough justice for the damage he has caused to my family, find me that chip Takemura-sama, find it and I will make sure you are thoroughly compensated for all those years of servitude to my father,” Hanako said to him. Goro bowed before Hanako again.

“Of course Arasaka-sama,” he said and turned to leave the office. He looked at the photos of Jackie, V and Kerry again. Where Kerry was, V would be close. He would need time to dig into their backgrounds, reconnaissance, weaponry, and of course there was the matter of the lockdown in Watson. He knew when it was going to be lifted, three weeks, all he had to do was wait until then and he could lure them out with the promise of eddies or a juicy job offer.

* * *

Meanwhile in Lizzie’s, V found Judy in the basement.

“Hey Judy, is Evelyn around?” he asked her.

“No, why, you here for something?” Judy asked.

“Uh just wanted her to take a look at the relic because it’s installing or something, but if she’s not here, I’ll just wait and see if this thing kills me instead,” V said to her. Judy chuckled and beckoned him in.

“I can take a look at it, if you don’t mind listening to me bitch about Evie for a few minutes,” she said to him.

“Bitch away, I was meant to take it to Pacifica but I ended up back in Watson because of an incident,” he explained as he sat down in the chair in the center of the room and Judy went to grab a very strange bulky machine.

“Incident?”

“So, plan went off without a hitch, we left just as soon as Saburo Arasaka’s body was found, high-tailed it back to North Oak where we were going to wait out until morning before going to find the Voodoo Boys in Pacifica to hand over the chip, unfortunately, Dexter DeShawn sent a hitman after us, Jackie’s now in a coma, Kerry got shot and we had to hide the chip in my neural port, couldn’t risk leaving it alone, now it’s installing,” V explained to her. Judy listened and nodded, and then jacked a cable into V’s neural interface and brought up a screen.

“This tech is also used to calibrate doll chips, can also scan regular shards and chips too and get bio readings, gotta make sure the dolls are okay after their chips have been activated for a session, you know,” Judy said to him.

“Yeah, you know the Dollhouse Clouds?”

“Yeah, I used to work there with Evie, I calibrated the chips, she would perform, we both got out of there a year or so back, Mox’s gave us a better life and now I can edit BD’s where my real talents lie,” Judy said to him.

“Nice, done anything cool with BD’s?”

“I converted the Bushido movies for BD’s viewings, and I’m currently trying to see how two people can scroll the same BD experience, but it’s complicated shit you know, I’m guessing you’ve been to Clouds before then.”

“Yeah, a few months back, ex of mine came rolling into town, wasn’t expecting him, I went to Clouds to try and forget that he was here, ended up getting matched with a guy named Angel and he helped me forget,” V explained. His experience with Angel at Clouds was euphoric, his soothing voice, the emotionally charged but satisfying talk they had, the sex that while was far beyond most of V’s experiences was almost otherworldly in his mind.

“Angel’s a cool dude, there’s a girl there Skye too, she’s hot…but she doesn’t like me, not girly enough for her tastes," Judy commented with a sour note.

“Any girl would be lucky to have you,” V told her. Judy chuckled.

“Thanks V, alright scans are done, I don’t know this chip seems relatively harmless, it’s a Relic chip right but the code is different, kind of similar to the Doll chips but instead of the personality being temporary, this looks like it could be permanent but there’s no trigger button,” Judy said as she read the readings.

“So how would it activate?” V asked.

“Not sure, I can boost the installation so it can install within the next few minutes and we can figure it out,” she suggested.

“Can’t hurt,” V agreed. Judy ran the booster as the installation starting going faster, she dug around the code as it installed but there was very little to give her information.

“If we could find who made this chip, I bet they could tell us how this works,” Judy said.

“I have no clue who made this chip,” V told her. Judy then got out her holo and started texting.

“I’ll find out, this is going to require you to accept a massive favour from me in the future but I’ll go digging, might take a while this is going to require some serious bartering, but I’ll give you a call when I get the name of the person who made it,” she said. V nodded in agreement as he saw the installer finish and a flash of blue Relic: Installed

“Well it’s installed…nothing’s happening,” V said. He pushed on the neural port and the shard clicked out, revealing another sign Relic: Removed. Judy checked the screen and saw something.

“Hmm, hey V, you removed the Relic but looks like the sleeping construct is still there, like a digital imprint, no way to activate it so whatever it is, it’s not going to wake up,” Judy noted. V looked at the shard and wondered.

“What would happen if I destroyed this chip?” he asked her. Judy shrugged.

“Arasaka would kill you, I could hold onto it for you, check it out, let me put a little sticker over it,” Judy pulled a pack of stickers from her desk and placed it over one side of the Relic.

“Now instead of it being a multi-million eddie relic chip, it’s a copy of Watson Whore, season one, I was planning to convert those next anyway to BD, I’ll keep it safe, look into its creator, you should just focus on laying low for a bit until lockdown’s over,” Judy advised him.

“Yeah I might do that, I’d call Kerry but he deep-fried his holo and he said he was coming here, I might head back to my apartment then, thanks Judy,” V said getting gout of the chair. Judy pocketed the Relic and gave him a playful nudge on the shoulder.

“No worries V, you take care of yourself,” she said. V smiled at her and left the basement of Lizzie’s.

* * *

When V finally got back to his apartment around noon, he noticed something was off. The place was clean, well except for his workshop that was still a trash pile but the takeout, trash bags, and empty cardboard boxes were all gone, his clothes were folded and in their closet and Kerry was now brushing his teeth rather manically. V had no idea how to respond, the window was even sparkling.

“Did you clean the place?” V asked him. Kerry spat a glob of toothpaste and spit into the sink and rinsed his mouth before turning off the mirror.

“Told you Lowtown Lithium worked, if the world was grey before it’s now fucking technicolour because soon as I popped those pills, I got a new phone, bought a bunch of clothes, and cleaned the place, didn’t touch your workshop, sacred space, fuck they motivate me well, premium meds don’t make me this productive, what about you, you talk to Evelyn?” Kerry said.

“No she wasn’t there but Judy was, she boosted the installation of the chip and she’s holding onto it, weird thing, when I removed the chip, the construct is still in my head, like a digital copy, so Johnny’s taking a nap in my head, we’ve no idea how it activates though so Judy’s looking into it,” V explained.

“So what does that leave us doing while we wait?” Kerry asked him.

“Enjoy the lockdown I guess, talk about this morning maybe,” V suggested. He had to say something, Kerry laughed and walked to the couch and sat down.

“And say what exactly?” he asked him. V looked down feeling a little embarrassed.

“Well…it was nice and yes I kind of wanted to kiss you goodbye at the diner, it’s just been so crazy you know,” he said and sat down next to Kerry. “A couple days ago I was waking up alone, drinking alone, doing jobs alone, and then…and then I was asked to recover something very important and it lead to you, and a night at your place, I thought you were going to pay me and kick me out right after.”

“Actually I was going to pay you and ask if I could keep you on retainer for any more ‘search and recover’ jobs, I have a list of shit that’s been stolen over the years, then I was going to offer you a drink,” Kerry told him. V laughed a little and leaned back on the couch.

“I didn’t want to drag you into this mess when I got word of the job.”

“I dragged myself into it when I overheard Yorinobu at Dark Matter, knowing Johnny was on the chip made it personal,” Kerry said feeling the twinge of sadness about Johnny. “Apparently fifty years is not enough time to get over a person’s death.”

“When is it ever, I thought I had enough to get over things like my dad dying, grams, Clarke…Clarke’s the worst offender,” V said.

“Who’s Clarke?”

“Ex of mine, two years back I went to Atlanta, only came back this year around January, I met Clarke on a gig for a Fixer there, he and I ran into each other on the job and when it was done, he bought me a drink, and then it was twenty-three months of what I thought was a perfect relationship, you know how it goes…it was over the moment he sold me out. I had to steal a data shard containing some valuable information for a client, but when the gang I was stealing it from caught me, I learnt that Clarke had told them what I was doing, fucking betrayed me, I told him it was over and that I was going back to Night City…took me going to a Dollhouse to truly start getting over him and I promised myself I wasn’t going to let anyone hurt me like that again,” V explained. Clarke was a salted wound and thinking about him always seemed to sting each time. Kerry reached out for V’s hand. V grabbed it and glanced at Kerry, feeling that urge to kiss him like in the diner. Don’t be a gonk, he thought to himself. He inched closer to Kerry on the couch and kissed him softly, nothing too eager, he thought. Kerry pulled him into the kiss, this time there would be no interruptions.


	11. The Lovers

The last time V had kissed someone like this, it had been when he and Clarke first became ‘more than friends’ in Atlanta, granted it had been in the back of Clarke’s truck while on a stakeout and the target never even showed up. That had been after several weeks of knowing Clarke, but this, two days had barely passed knowing Kerry. V broke for air as he gazed at Kerry. He reached for Kerry’s shirt, pulling it up over his head and throwing it on the floor, he traced the golden chrome down his neck, around his pecs, down his abs, such wonder in his mind. Words couldn’t form, instead he stood up from the couch, took Kerry’s hand and led him back to the bed in the corner of the apartment.

“V,” Kerry said as V caressed his face.

“What?” he asked him. Kerry breathed in slow and out.

“I…” he stopped. Did it matter, twelve years was a long time to be alone. “I want you to know, this means more than you could ever know.” V responded with a kiss on his lips, then his cheek, then his neck.

“I might know,” he muttered. He pulled off his shirt, sitting down on the bed, pulling Kerry down onto him, warm body heat clashing.

Shoes were thrown across the apartment, jeans left on the floor by the bed as Kerry got a look at V, his eyes drawn the tattoos across his chest. He traced the ink feeling V’s body, his hand then sprawled across his pec. His kissed V once again, Kerry wanted him, but he also wanted to be wanted by him. He slowly moved down V’s body planting kisses along his body until he reached the elastic band of V’s boxers, He slipped his thumbs under the band and pulled them down, met with V’s uncut girth. Kerry smiled a little, with swift ease removing his own, and getting onto his knees, licking the shaft which twitched at the notion. V moaned slightly just as Kerry then started to slowly work on V’s hard cock with his mouth, not fully, Kerry had learned the hard way that deep-throating was how he could damage his chord implants. V sighed at the feeling and sat up on his bed, he ran his hand through Kerry’s hair, thoroughly messing the neat style. He tilted Kerry’s chin to make him look up. He pulled Kerry up onto his lap, kissed him tenderly and ran a hand up and down his back. V wanted to speak, but why ruin a perfect moment with words, instead he let one hand wander down to Kerry’s thigh.

“You want to do this?” he asked Kerry.

“You fucking know it,” Kerry answered.

V laid back on the bed as he watched Kerry begin to slowly work his way onto his cock, slowly bucking his hips to gain rhythm. Kerry looked down at the doe-eyed mercenary and started moving faster, riding V and trying to keep a hold of his rhythm. V propped himself up on his elbows, first the tongue action on his cock and now Kerry riding him, this wasn’t going to be a long wait for him.

“God fuck V, I need you up here,” Kerry moaned, he reached out to V pulled him close into a hug, fingers digging into V’s back and clawing with intensity. V grabbed onto Kerry’s one hand gripping at his hair, the other at his lower back.

“Kerry, I…I’m so,” V couldn’t finish his sentence before he let out a guttural moan, feeling his cum escape him and fill Kerry. Breathless Kerry pressed his forehead to V’s releasing his clawed grasp and laughed a little.

“Fuck, been a while since I’ve been this sweaty,” he said, getting off V and lying down on the bed. V lay down beside him, sweaty and sticky with the last drops of his semen.

“Yeah,” V agreed. Too many thoughts raced through his head, he’d had sex with Kerry, he’d come inside Kerry, Kerry had wanted him. He laughed and sat up.

“What’s so funny?” Kerry asked him.

“Just…when I was seventeen, I got drunk with some mates and we did a shag, marry, kill game with celebrities, came to my turn and it was a tossup between you, Morgan Blackhand and Adam Smasher…I said shag and marry you, and leave Adam Smasher and Morgan Blackhand to fight it out, winner would be best man.”

“Well one of those came true, guess we know what we’ll be doing for the next three weeks then…you know, if you want a round two?” Kerry said to him. V looked down and nodded.

“Yeah, count me in,” he said. He stood up from the bed and Kerry bit his bottom lip at the damage he’d done as he saw two sets of scratches on V’s back, he checked his fingernails which had a bit of blood in them.

“Fuck I think I did a bit of damage to you there V,” he said. V walked over to the mirror and observed the damage.

“Yes, you did,” he said looking at the scratches. Kerry walked into the shower and turned it on.

“Fancy joining me?” he asked him. V smirked a little and turned off the mirror.

“Is that even a question?” he asked him.

* * *

That evening as V and Kerry sat on the sofa watching the news that was still talking about Saburo’s death, Kerry saw a text on his phone from an unknown number, he had gotten the phone several hours before and had only given the number to V.

_You have three weeks to give me the biochip or I will take it by force._

Kerry bit his lip and deleted the message quickly.

“Something wrong Ker?” V asked him.

“Everything’s cool, just linking back to Delamain so we can get a car for when lockdown ends,” he lied, better V not know an Arasaka goon had eyes on him.

“We should probably go to bed anyway, we’ve got a lazy three weeks ahead of us, if I don’t get any jobs from the local Fixers that is,” V said.

“Sure thing,” Kerry agreed. V turned off the TV and they retired to the small bed, nestled under the bed covers, V cuddled close into Kerry, one arm around his waist. Kerry fell asleep first, V soon falling asleep after and just as V fell into REM sleep, Johnny Silverhand digitised into the apartment.

“Where the- fuck…what is this?” he asked himself as he looked around. He saw a bottle of tequila on the table and went to grab it, his hand going through it.

“Fuck am I ghost?” he looked at the bed, saw Kerry and V sleeping and walked over.

“Fuck…Kerry Eurodyne, you’re old…and living in this craphole, guess you didn’t make it after all,” he guessed. “Course you got yourself an input, fucking twink.” Johnny looked around, he couldn’t grab things, was he a ghost or was he high enough to think he was a ghost?

“No…Mikoshi…Soulkiller…Saburo…then the fucker really did it, but which head am I in?” Johnny wondered as he looked at the two. He walked over to the bed, crouch down close to Kerry.

“Kerry if you can fucking hear me, I need you to get me out of this thing,” Johnny whispered to him. No response, Johnny sighed and kicked the wall, odd, certain things were solid but not the fucking tequila?

“Just my luck,” Johnny said before Kerry woke up.

“V, did you say something?” he asked him, V opened his eyes, the REM disturbed and Johnny vanishing.

“What is it?” V asked him.

“I thought I heard you talking or someone talking, must have dreamt it,” Kerry said and settled back down. V settled back into REM sleep and Johnny appeared again, he smugly looked at the mercenary and sat down on the couch.

“Well, well, looks like I know whose head I’m in, now to figure a way out of here,” he said.


	12. Three Weeks Later

Three weeks passed. Some days feeling slower than others, the imprint of Johnny’s engram had done nothing noticeable, which both scared V but also gave him relief that nothing would happen overall. Kerry had gotten into a better mood, singing in the shower, writing lyrics all over any piece of paper he could find and using V’s old guitar to write music. Living with V had been a treat for him, no shades of grey for three weeks. V hopped out the shower and saw the TV had a news report on the Watson lockdown finishing.

“You find it weird that the lockdown has ended after the Mayor died?” Kerry asked him. Kerry was looking way different from the day V had met him, hair wasn’t exactly neat and Corpo smooth anymore but a little bit wilder, and his bleach blond dye had been completely washed out and his hair was now dark brown with the odd grey hair shining through. But one thing V had noticed was that Kerry couldn’t stop smiling around him.

“Well from what the flathead saw in Konpeki Plaza, Rhyne was in a bit of shit spot, guess dying could only solve all his problems,” V commented. Kerry checked his phone and saw an NCPD call coming in.

“This better be about my house,” he muttered and answered. “Yep.”

“Hi Mr Eurodyne, this is Detective War from the NCPD, just calling to let you know you’re free to go back to your home now in North Oak, forensics cleaned up, I can give you a full report now or we can discuss this at North Oak,” River said on the phone.

“We’ll talk at North Oak, can you be there within an hour?” Kerry asked.

“I can be, thank you Mr Eurodyne,” River replied.

“Excellent, but please call me Kerry,” Kerry said and hung up. “House is unlocked, want to take a ride out to North Oak, use them new wheels I bought?”

“Love to, my Arch is still up there in your driveway,” V answered pulling on a t-shirt. “I’m hoping Judy will get back to me or Evelyn, been dark for weeks now,” he said.

“Judy’s probably in a deep dive looking for the chips creator, Evelyn probably skipped town,” Kerry noted. “We can also stop by NCM, see how Jackie’s getting on.”

“That sounds good,” V agreed.

The two headed down to the garage where Kerry had spent a hundred thousand eddies on a sparkling white-gold Arch.

“I both love and hate this bike,” V commented as Kerry handed him a helmet.  
“Why?”

“I love it because it’s Arch but I hate it because it looks way better than mine,” V told him.

“Oh, baby’s jealous,” Kerry said mockingly as he got on the bike and put his helmet on. V made a face under the visor and got onto the back of the bike, hold onto Kerry. He started up the bike and rode out of the garage. The sun was out again in Night City and with Watson now out of lockdown, it was easy riding to North Oak through Westbrook. Kerry was happier with the bike, sure his car was expensive but it wasn’t as freeing as a bike. Kerry rode around the roundabout where he noticed a Delamain car circling and passed the columbarium up to his mansion. A truck was parked in the driveway as they rode up and stopped. Kerry pulled off the helmet, shaking his hair a little as he saw Detective Ward leaning against the truck.

“Kerry, and V, nice to see you again,” he said to them.

“Are you off duty or undercover?” V asked glancing at River’s fashion.

“Don’t disrespect the coat bro, just thought I’d give you the full report, unofficially, I am off-duty today, when they swept the house, they didn’t find out how the assassin got in, what they did find however was a data shard on the body indicating an archived conversation with a Dexter DeShawn, I investigated the conversation and I found Dexter DeShawn….in a municipal landfill outside of Night City, but that’s where the trail ended, don’t know who killed him there was no trace,” River explained.

“How’d he die?” Kerry asked.

“Bullet to the head, dead center,” River said tapping the middle of his own forehead. V laughed a little.

“Fuck, guess his luck ran out,” he said. There went one worry, Dex coming after him, then he remembered T-Bug how she’d gone completely dark when the comms was cut at code red. “Did you reach out to his associates?”

“We only knew of one, netrunner named T-Bug but she’s a ghost it seems, no way to track her,” River said. V sighed a little disappointed, T-Bug must have ghosted or gotten ghosted.

“Think you could get a netrunner to look into it?” he asked River.

“I can give it a shot, but don’t expect much.”

“Thanks Detective, anything else?” Kerry asked.

“Nothing else, but if you don’t mind V, could I get your number?” River asked V.

“Why would I give my number to a cop?” V wondered a little sceptical of the request.

“I might need some jobs done off the books in the future, and fixer’s don’t trust cops,” River said. V gave River a suspicious look but complied.

“Alright, he can always bail me out if shit goes south,” V said.

“I’m not Arasaka rich V,” Kerry commented. V added River to his contacts and shook his hand.

“All good River?” V asked him.

“Perfect, I should get back, got things to do, don’t go running into any trouble, at least not without backup,” River advised him getting into his truck. River drove off out of the driveway and V spotted his bike. Just as he went to check its condition, Judy called.

“Hey V, you owe me a huge favour,” she declared as he picked up.

“You got the name of the person who made the chip?” V asked.

“Yeah, name’s Anders Hellman, used to work for Arasaka but rumour has it, he skipped through the back door, I don’t know much else but I’m sure a Fixer should help, maybe try Afterlife,” Judy said to him.

“Thanks Jude, I’ll come by to pick up the chip lockdown’s over so we can take it to Pacifica and the Voodoo Boys,” V replied.

“Might have to wait on that, I still haven’t found Evie, I’m worried she went back to Clouds, could you find out if she did for me?”

“Sure thing Jude, I’ll call you soon as I hear anything,” V agreed.

“Thanks V, I’ll meet you at Jig-Jig Street then later on when you get back to me,” Judy said and hung up. V turned back to Kerry who was staring at his house.

“I am selling this place, heard there’s a really nice penthouse available in Watson,” he commented.

“Got a situation, Judy need me to help her find Evelyn, could you go to Afterlife and find out any information on Anders Hellman for me?” V asked Kerry. Kerry laughed a little.

“Sure thing V, look at me, pushing a century and I’m a Rockerboy rebel again, guess it really is more than a title,” Kerry said.

“I like it, I’m going to Clouds to look for Evelyn, you’ll be okay at Afterlife?” Kerry raised his eyebrow at V.

“I’ve dealt with a Cyberpsycho pointing a gun in my face, Rogue doesn’t scare me,” Kerry told him.

“I’ll see you later then,” V said and kissed Kerry. He didn’t want to leave but help was calling.

* * *

Kerry watched as V rode away out of North Oak and he walked inside his house, clean, not as sparkly. He walked over to the bathroom and turned on the mirror, staring at his reflection. Something had to change. He left the mirror and went up to his bedroom and into the closet. Rifling through his clothes, he pulled out an outfit he hadn’t worn for a long time and a makeup bag. Taking it all back downstairs, Kerry threw down the motorcycle jacket, the jeans and the plain shirt. He put on his old leather trousers and signature boots, and an old t-shirt that had various rips over it and the words Archangel written across the front. He picked up the old bandana, tied it around his wrist. He opened up the makeup bag, painted his eyes black with eyeshadow, making the blue Kiroshi optics pop. Somehow with all his new chrome, he looked even more like his old self and not what the label had made him. Finally, the jacket, to complete the ensemble, the old Samurai jacket, the thing was old as ever but somehow it had stayed pristine from all the love and care he had given it. He looked at his reflection, time to give Night City a shock. He pulled out his phone, grabbed a selfie, tongue stuck out, devil horns, angry expression and uploaded it to the Net with the caption: ‘Still alive!’

Kerry rode down back into Watson parking the bike outside, catching stares from everyone as he walked past them into the club. Emmerick stopped him, before realising who he was staring at.

“Kerry Eurodyne?” he asked, half-believing it. Kerry smiled at the bouncer.

“Do I even need to ask to come in, I need to see Rogue, you let her know I’ll be at the bar waiting, I don’t care if she has an appointment,” he said to him. Emmerick stepped aside as the doors opened. He walked into the club and to the bar. The bartender had just started as he saw Kerry approach, he was a little star struck.

“Hi what can I get you?” he asked, his voice cracking from the nerves.

“Vodka, on ice,” Kerry said. He could feel eyes on him, been a good decade since he had stepped into Afterlife. He glanced at one patron who seemed to drop his glass in shock. The bartender placed the drink in front of him as he downed it in one, pushed the glass back and turned towards Rogue’s booth. He stood up walked over and pushed the bodyguard aside casually.

“Rogue…we need to talk about Silverhand.”


	13. Clouds

V hadn’t been to Clouds since the time he went to forget Clarke had rolled into Night City, his data was on file so getting to see Angel again would be easy, but he liked Angel and he wasn’t keen on potentially ruining their connection by enquiring about Evelyn. He approached the Mega Building, noting the Tyger Claws that were scattered around, their territory. Clouds was normally closed during the day but certain dolls like Angel would do one-off daytime appointments if you booked in advance. He had made sure to book for a ‘special’ appointment after his call with Judy and leaving Kerry’s. He looked at the TV monitor and saw news abuzz of Kerry again.

“Just moments ago, rocker Kerry Eurodyne, posted this picture to the Net with the caption ‘Still Alive’ this comes just weeks after the attack on Mr Eurodyne who was sent to Night City Medical with gunshot wounds and then proceeded to go radio silent, his manager had neglected to comment at this time however rumours were spread of Kerry being spotted in Watson with a local mercenary who is rumoured to be his new input.” V smiled at the picture, it was like 2023 Kerry was back.

“Wait, 2023?” V asked himself, where had that thought come from? He shrugged it away as the lift stopped at the floor to Clouds. A bouncer was outside. He walked over to the bouncer. “I have an appointment,” he said to the Tyger Claw. They scanned V and stepped aside.

“Alright go in,” he said. At the desk, the receptionist stood waiting.

“Hi you must be here for your ‘special’ appointment with Angel?” she asked.

“Yes, you have me on record, V,” he told her, taking out his neural wire and linking to the terminal. She processed the information and took payment as she confirmed V’s appointment.

“We’re all set, Angel awaits you in booth six,” the receptionist told him. V jacked out of the terminal and wandered down to booth six.

_Deviant._

V stopped and looked behind him, a Tyger Claw looked at him and then away, wasn’t him who said that. V opened the glass panel to booth six and saw Angel sitting on the bed waiting for him.

“Hello V, it is good to see you returned,” he said to him. The chip had already activated V, noted as he walked to the bed and sat down.

“And you Angel, it’s been a while,” he said.

“When I last saw you, you were in pain, deep heartbreak, tore at your soul, but…it’s healing, someone is healing you, slowly,” Angel said to him, reaching out and caressing V’s cheek.

“Yeah, I met someone, I didn’t think it was possible,” V answered touching Angel’s hand.

“And yet it has, but why visit your Angel, if you have found an Archangel?” Angel asked him. V looked away, would he help, would it cost him this job or his doll implant?

“I need help,” V said.

“Is it the shadow on your back?” Angel asked. V looked at him confused, a shadow?

“What do you mean?”

“I can see it, like a void creeping across space, a shadow growing on your back, a silver claw on your shoulder, but it is trapped in a cage you made for it, can only wake when you sleep, if you should perish, the shadow will engulf you,” Angel told him. V breathed in, reaching for his shoulder tentatively, he glanced at the mirrored wall and saw him.

“Johnny Silverhand,” he whispered in shock as he let go of his shoulder, Johnny vanishing. “He’s waking up.”

“Do not fret my V, shadows fade and his will too, so long as you keep running,” Angel said to him. V breathed out and moved close to Angel, forehead pressed to his.

“What if I stop running?”

“You mustn’t stop running, if you stop running, you could stand to lose everything, the Archangel, me, yourself and everyone you love.”

“If I want to keep running, I need to find Evelyn Parker, she is why I ended up here,” V said.

“Deep in the underbelly of Jig-Jig, where caustic hands fix chrome, run V, run and save yourself from the shadow that grows,” Angel said. V looked at the doll, the red gleam in his eyes, he kissed Angel and then whispered:

“Samurai.”

* * *

The lights increased as the session was finished and Angel looked around trying to get his bearings.

“I uh…was this where the session was meant to end?” he asked V.

“Yeah, once again Angel, you were a big help,” V said to him.

“It’s what we do best at Clouds, but…I feel…was there another person in that session with us?” Angel asked. V shook his head.

“No, just me, no one else at all.” He said to him.

“Strange, it felt like there was someone watching us that whole time, I should probably get going, you were my only day-time appointment today,” Angel said standing up.

“I have to get going too, need to meet a friend and Angel, thanks for your advice,” V said to him. Angel smiled a little.

“No worries, it’s what I’m here for,” he said. V left Angel and Clouds, picking up his weapons he had left at the front desk, and called Judy.

“Hey V, how did Clouds go, she there?” she said to him.

“No, but there’s a Ripperdoc on Jig-Jig Street right?” V asked her.

“Yeah, Fingers, not the greatest of docs from what I hear, his hands slip,” Judy said to him. “If she’s there something could have gone wrong.”

“Meet you at Fingers clinic then,” V said and hung up. He touched his shoulder again, remembering seeing Johnny in the mirror with Angel. But did Angel see him too? That part scared him, what was this engram doing while dormant in his wake, was he plotting, was he planning was he going to force him to crack his skull open so Johnny could takeover.

“You better find Hellman for me Kerry,” V whispered and left the mega building to meet Judy.

* * *

Outside of Fingers Clinic, Judy was sitting waiting as V arrived. Judy was looking concerned and V could feel it, she was just as worried as him.

“Hey V, you sure she’s here?” she asked him.

“During my session with Angel, he said where caustic hands fix chrome, when I mentioned Evelyn’s name,” V replied.

“Then she has to be here, no other way around it, but why though?” Judy wondered as they walked inside. It was a grim, grotty hallways that led upstairs to a small waiting area where a JoyToy sat waiting on his appointment.

“You here to see Fingers?” he asked them.

“Yeah, need to fix my hand, it’s broken,” V said holding up his right hand where his implant was, a lie, Vik was top quality, he’d never botch his work.

“He’s been in there for two hours working on a patient, I don’t know what her problem is, but she was a wreck when brought in a couple of days ago,” the JoyToy told him. V walked to the door, it had to be Evelyn.

“Sorry about this,” V said and wrenched the door open. Judy gasped as she saw Evelyn on the table, faceplate open as the Ripperdoc halted working.

“Excuse me I am currently at work, you’ll have to wait your turn,” Finger said irritated at V’s interruption.

“Evie, what the hell are you doing to her?” Judy demanded as she rushed to her friend’s side.

“You know his doll?” Fingers asked.

“Know her, she’s my friend, what happened to her?” Judy demanded again.

“You tell me, she was brought in like this, her doll chip is completely fried,” Finger said. V knew that wasn’t the case as he scanned Evelyn’s body.

“Fuck, her chip got more than fried, I need to call Vik,” V said getting out his phone and calling Vik.

“That won’t be necessary,” Fingers began before Judy pushed him away from Evelyn.

“V what’s the emergency?” Vik answered.

“Vik, my friend’s doll chip is completely fried, she’s slightly responsive but there’s more to it, we’re at a Ripperdoc on Jig-Jig Street, could we bring her into you?” Vik asked frantically.

“You’re not at Fingers are you, jeez, his work is low-rate, you tell that guy you’re bringing her to me and if he has a problem he can talk to me direct,” Vik said to him.

“Alright, we’ll get her to you,” V said and hung up. “Put her faceplate back, we’re taking her to my Ripperdoc.”

“If you think he can do a better job, be my guest,” Fingers said fixing the faceplate back on and stepping back as Judy glared at him.

“His hands won’t slip,” she said to him harshly as V picked up Evelyn.

“You got transportation Jude?”

“I brought my van, let’s get her to your Ripper and fast,” Judy said. V brought Evelyn out of the clinic and to Judy’s van. He sat in the back with Evelyn as Judy drove to Watson. Please make it in time, he thought to himself with worry.


	14. A Favour

“We need to talk about Silverhand,” Kerry said to Rogue who was talking to a young Nomad with a sour expression on her face.

“Kerry Eurodyne, last time I saw you, you called me a stone-cold bitch,” Rogue said to him. Kerry smiled at her and chuckled a little.

“Yeah, was true then, still true now,” he said to her. Rogue looked at the Nomad and waved her away.

“We’re done here Panam,” she said. The nomad, Panam, turned and stomped out of the booth. Kerry walked into the booth and sat next to Rogue.

“I need some serious talk though, need to find a person, you’re good at that aren’t you?” Kerry asked.

“I can, but it’ll cost you, money first, then the job,” Rogue replied. Kerry gave her a smug looked and transferred her the fifteen thousand eddies.

“Taking Santiago’s advice I see, alright, that enough?”

“Sure, who are you looking for?”

“Guy named Anders Hellman, he made a relic chip that was stolen from Konpeki Plaza the night Saburo Arasaka died,” Kerry said.

“And how do you know a relic chip was stolen?” Rogue asked him curiously.

“Because I was part of the heist to steal it, I managed to distract Yorinobu long enough for my boy V to get the chip and get out of there,” Kerry told her.

“Your boy, that new rumoured input of yours?”

“The very same, I got involved when I learned Johnny’s engram is on the chip, V had to install the chip to hide it when my place got attacked, and we need to speak to the guy who developed it to know exactly how it works,” Kerry explained. Rogue was silent for a moment but then nodded.

“Alright, I’ll get the information, but you owe me a favour first, call it payment for getting me involved back in some more Johnny Silverhand bullshit,” Rogue said to him.

“I already paid you fifteen grand, you need another fifteen?” Kerry asked her.

“No, that girl Panam that was just here, she botched a job for me, ended up losing her car which was carrying some goods for Sixth Street, if you’re playing Rockerboy again, help get her car back, it’s in Rocky Ridge, by the time you’ve done all that, I should have the information on Hellman for you,” Rogue told him.

“Why is she important?” Kerry asked.

“Because if my hunch is right, she just might be able to help you get access to him,” Rogue said. Kerry nodded as Rogue sent over Panam’s number to him. He walked out of Afterlife, still getting gawking stares from the patrons and out into the cool air, he dialled the number.

“What?” Panam answered.

“Hey Panam, this is Kerry, I’m here to help clean up the shit Rogue says you got into,” Kerry said to her.

“What I- urgh fuck, do you know where my car is?” Panam asked him.

“I surely do, where can we meet to talk, evidently if I do this job for you, you have to help me with my problem,” Kerry told her.

“Parking lot in Rancho Coronado, we’ll talk there, fucking Rogue,” Panam said and hung up.

“Well she’s delightful,” Kerry said sarcastically. He called up V but it went to voicemail.

“Hey V, I’m dealing with some shit for Rogue to get info on Hellman so I’m going to be busy for the rest of the day, you let me know how things with Evelyn and Judy are okay, love you,” Kerry said and hung up. He then froze, fuck, did he just say what he thought he said? “Oh too late to take that back and save it for another time,” he said to himself and went to his Arch.

* * *

Kerry rode down through the city and out to Santo Domingo where he found Panam, bent over her car muttering curse words into the engine. Kerry glanced at her unimpressed and pressed the horn on his bike to get her attention.

“What- OW, shit, fuck!” Panam shouted as she smacked her head on the raised hood. Kerry laughed and climbed off his bike.

“Panam Palmer right, Kerry Eurodyne,” he said to her. She looked up at him, getting a proper look and her jaw dropped.

“The musician, fuck!” she said in surprise.

“Well I know what your favourite word is, it’s mine too,” Kerry said to her.

“But why are you doing a mercs job?” Panam asked him.

“Why the fuck is Morgan Blackhand trying to pretend he’s dead, because I have shit that needs to be done and to do it I need to get my hands dirty, once a Rockerboy, always a Rockerboy,” Kerry told her.

“And you need my help to do that?” she asked.

“Apparently, but first let’s talk about your car,” Kerry said to her leaning on the door of the car that Panam was back to fixing.

“Yes where is it?”

“Rocky Ridge,” he answered.

“Fucking Nash, oh I’m going to kill him,” Panam said as she ripped the horn out and threw it on the ground. She then got onto her phone and called up someone. “Boz, Panam here, yeah meet up tonight, Sunset Motel, be there for eleven okay.” She hung up the phone and went into the car.

“Alright we need to stop at the Aldecados camp first, pick up some equipment if we’re going to get my car back at Rocky Ridge, you driving with me?” she asked him.

“Not fucking leaving my bike here by itself, you know how much this thing cost?” he said to her.

“Well fine then, ride alongside, but you can’t bring it to Rocky Ridge, we’ll link on the holo to talk,” she said to him and got into the car. Kerry got onto his bike starting it up as Panam started to drive, and he followed the car out of Rancho Coronado.

* * *

Kerry followed the car out into the Badlands towards the Aldecados camp, Panam on the holo, never shutting up about how much of a dick Nash was, made sense to Kerry, Nash was a Raffen Shiv and they were assholes.

“Yeah Raffens suck, everyone knows that,” Kerry said on his holo.

“How would you know?” Panam asked him.

“Because they tried to kill me several years back,” Kerry told her. “Fun story too, involved me going on a bender with a couple of Bakkers that had arrived in Night City, ended with all of three of us in an open gun fight with some Raffen we had decided to rob.”

“Did you at least win?”

“Course I did, you think I would be here if I didn’t?” They reached the Aldecados campsite and parked. Kerry got off the bike as Panam got out of the car to meet a couple of her old clan.  
“Mitch, Scorpion, how the hell are you?” she asked them.

“Panam, you finally deciding to come back or are you still hoping Night City will give you the break you need?” Mitch asked her.

“And who’s the- fuck what are you doing with Kerry Eurodyne?” Scorpion asked in surprise as he glanced at the rocker with admiration.

“Favour for my friend, the bitch, though I can’t take the bike for this job,” Kerry said the last part imitating Panam. “Mind looking after my ride, she was expensive and you guys probably know how to treat your bikes.”

“Sure do, I’ll park her with mine,” Scorpion said.

“I just have to pick some stuff up, won’t be long, going to get my car back from Nash,” Panam told Mitch.

“Well don’t let Saul know you’re here, he’s still pissed at you,” Mitch advised her. Kerry followed Panam into the camp, he didn’t seem to fit in with their style, was city rock and they were dusty roads. Inside a small tent, Panam found a box with jumper cables and grenades in.

“Alright, let’s go, pick it up for me,” she said. Kerry looked at her, pursed his lips and tilted his head down at her.

“You got arms don’t you,” he said. She glared at him and picked up the box.

“Fine,” she said and waltzed past him with the box of stuff. “Don’t want to help, bad as Saul,” she commented.

“Oh please, like I’m as bad as your daddy,” he said to her.

“He’s not my father,” she snapped to him. Kerry laughed and followed her.

“I didn’t call him your father, I called him your daddy, big difference,” he told her.

“What is the difference?” Panam asked him.

“Okay I’m a father, got two kids, but I’m not their daddy because I’m not around to raise them, guide them, teach ‘em not to do stupid shit, this Saul guy ain’t your father but he’s looked after you most of your life right, tried to teach you right and wrong, told you not to do stupid shit right?”

“He tells me not to do shit he considers stupid, but I don’t listen.”

“Point is, has he always been there for you?” Kerry asked her as they reached the car.

“Yeah, he’s always been there, he leads the clan,” Panam told him as she put the box on the ground.

“Therefore he’s your daddy,” Kerry pointed out. Panam said nothing but put the box into the back of the car.

“Alright let’s go,” she said and closed the boot. Kerry got into the car with her and they started to drive to Rocky Ridge.

* * *

“So why aren’t you with your clan?” he asked her.

“Wanted to try something new, be by myself for a while, see if I can cut it on my own,” she said to him.

“Ain’t going to pan out kid, look at me, I was lonely for a long fucking time, was staring into the void for so long it was starting to stare back, then I met V and he changed my life,” Kerry said.

“Who’s V?” Panam asked as they came to a turning. Kerry pulled out his phone and pulled up the picture of him and V, V’s arms around his waist, kissing his cheek.

“That’s V, my input, I met him when he recovered a guitar for me and things just snowballed from there, been a crazy few weeks really but I think I’m starting to fall in love,” Kerry said showing her the photo.

“He’s cute, but how do you know it’s love?” she asked him.

“Because I found in him the missing part of me I had been looking for.”


	15. Rocky Ridge

Rocky Ridge was dry, dusty, and smelled like a dead animal was buried somewhere nearby. A literal ghost town for the meetup. Kerry had done ghost town meets before for Johnny and his stupid ideas, but this was something else.

“You’re going to kick Nash’s ass here, there’s nothing, everything’s dead,” Kerry commented on the place as he stood in the dust observing.

“The place may be dead, but we can always bring it back to life, give those Raffens a surprise when they roll in at dusk,” Panam said to him.

“Looks like I’m eating dinner with you then,” Kerry commented.

“Look there’s a power station, gotta be a switch to turn everything on,” Panam said to him pointing the station.

“Sure yeah, but do you have a way to jumpstart the power, look I’ve done shit like this before, you use the car battery which will be fried when it gives the station some juice, then we can turn the power back on with a terminal,” Kerry explained to her.

“How do you know all this you’re like a hundred?” Panam asked.

“Okay first off, how fucking dare you, you have the emotional maturity of a five year old, secondly, Samurai did this back in the day, we took over a ghost town for a Halloween gig,” Kerry said to her.

“Good for you, alright, I’ll bring the car around and we can get the power back, hope you don’t have plans, Nash should be rolling in at dusk, I boot his ass, klep my car and the goods back, and then I can call Rogue a bitch and be satisfied,” Panam said.

“Good plan, I need to make a call,” Kerry said and got out his holo. “V, looks like this favour for Rogue is going to last until late into the night because we have to do a stakeout and wait for Raffens to show up, anyway if you’re free around eleven, I’ll be waiting at the Sunset Motel just outside Night City,” he said on the message. “Oh and uh…I love you by the way.” He hung up after the message and sighed. Now he had said it, on a fucking voicemail of all things. He headed over the power station where Panam had jumper cables ready to go.

“Alright can you link the red cable first,” she said going to the panel on the transformer. Kerry obliged and connected the red cable.

“Done.”

“Alright, now the black one,” she said. Kerry did so and saw sparks from the car.

“Well it’s something, okay, find the terminal and get it up and running, after that we wait,” Panam said to him. Kerry did so, turning everything on and going to the roof where there was a breaker.

* * *

The wait for the evening was a fucking long one for Kerry, Panam once again was just talking and talking, first about Nash being a dickhead, then Saul being a dickhead, then some guy named Tim also being a dickhead, not sure what he could have done to deserve the title, but he had been given it.

“And then of course, I left the Aldecaldos because I was sick of it,” Panam finished.

“Oh is it my turn to bitch now?” Kerry asked her.

“If you have anything to bitch about now would be the time,” she said to him on the holo link.

“My manager Kovachek, great when he first took me on as one of his clients, but after a while he started to get worse with time, he made me get an auto tuner upgrade, I sounded like a fucking tool, did a whole song in auto tune, did about as well as you’d expect, I’m a rocker boy not a fucking laser pop boy,” Kerry said.

“Oh wait…was that the song with that awful auto tune chorus, what was it called again?”

“Headspace, here’s how it should have sounded, forced pain in a synaptic haze, left screaming in a void of pain, what I’d give to relieve the pressure in my headspace, let my thoughts breathe easy in the depths of cosmic trace,” Kerry said singing the chorus.

“That sounds less awful without the auto tune,” Panam commented.

“Not a fan I guess,” Kerry guessed.

“Not that we’re not fans, we jam to your stuff when it’s on the radio like with Samurai, but we’re not a musical clan, we got people that play guitar but they write country nonsense,” Panam admitted.

“Appreciate the honesty, most people just say my biggest hit is their favourite and that’s it.”

“Anything else to bitch about?”

“I’m a gonk, told V I loved him twice on two separate voicemails, I had a plan, was going to take him on my managers boat, we’d trash it, set fire to it, maybe get in some sex on the boat while it’s on fire and then after we escape to the shore, I’d tell him I love him, it’s fucking stupid,” Kerry said.

“Not stupid, trust me if I could land a guy like yours, I’d be one happy girl,” Panam said.

“He’d have to be a fucking saint,” Kerry muttered. He spotted lights in the distance. “Alright focus up Peach Cobbler, looks like your ex is moving on in.”

“Did you just call me a Peach Cobbler?” Panam asked slightly offended.

“I’m seeing three cars, seven people…which one is Nash?”

“He’s not there, fuck, but my car is there, one of them must have the key, alright on my signal, we light up, pop each one, we get the car and go,” Panam said to him.

“Alright,” Kerry said hand on the breaker ready to light up.

“And light it up!” Kerry pulled the breaker, lights going on across Rocky Ridge as the Wraiths started to raise their weapons in caution. He got out his revolver and started to creep down to ground level as Panam took each one out with her sniper. He saw someone creeping towards him and aimed Archangel around a blockade, aiming for the guys shoulder. He fired and heard it hit the guy.

“Fuck!” the guy yelled just as Panam popped him with the sniper.

“You’re not bad, mind if I hire you security some time,” Kerry said standing up.

“Eh, if it pays enough, alright find the key, I’m coming down,” Panam said on the holo and disconnected. Kerry started searching the bodies, eventually finding the key on one of them and a neat little keychain.

“Well they don’t need it,” he said to himself. “Alright found the key, shall we deliver your goods and call Rogue a bitch or do you want to find Nash?”

“I want to find Nash,” Panam said.

“Cool, ‘cause we’re not doing that, you have just got this car back, if Nash is as smart as he seems because he fooled your dumb ass, he’ll klep it again,” Kerry said to her.

“But-,” Panam began before Kerry put his hand up.

“Sixth Street or I’m hauling you back to your clan by your dreadlocks,” he warned her. Panam growled at him and held out her hand for the key.

“Fine,” she agreed as he handed over the key.

* * *

Panam spent the entire ride to the Sunset Motel acting like a sour toddler in a time-out. When it came to deliver the goods to Sixth Street, Kerry stayed in the car, only getting gout when Sixth Street got the goods.

“Hey Rogue, what was that thing you said, solve it yourself, clean up your shit, well I got the car and the merch back, Sixth Street is happy, that’s two shits cleaned bitch, I guess you get your cut after all,” Panam said on the holo. Kerry knew Rogue already had her cut, he knew how she operated.

“Already had my cut up front, but it’s nice to see your concern,” Rogue said before hanging up. Panam responded by kicking her bumper.

“I need a drink,” she said and went into the bar. Kerry got out his holo and saw still nothing from V, he phoned again.

“Hey, job’s done, haven’t heard from you all day and I’m a little worried, you’re okay right, just call me as soon as you can okay,” he said on the voicemail. Radio silence since V had left for Clouds, what had gone wrong? He walked up into the bar and sat beside Panam who had two bottles of beer in front of her.

“I’m worried about V, haven’t heard from him all day,” he said as Panam pushed a bottle to him.

“He’s probably fine,” she guessed and took a swig of beer.

“Probably, don’t doubt he’s a fine merc, he klepped an expensive piece of tech from Konpeki Plaza, but last thing he said was he was going to Clouds to look for the woman who hired him for the job,” he said looking at his phone. Suddenly it lit up, vibrating as he answered.

“V?”

“Kerry…it’s Evelyn, she’s…” V stopped as the sound of sobbing and loud wailing both overtook. “Evelyn didn’t make it.”


	16. Flatline

V hung up the holo. Judy was crying into Evelyn’s body as Vik stood there next to the chair, a distraught look on his face. First time Vik had ever lost a patient in his chair, but what damage had been done was severe and Vik couldn’t fight the malware in her system. V walked back to Vik and sighed.

“Fuck Vik, I was so sure,” he said.

“Me too kid, but that was some Trojan shit she had in her system, whoever put it there was going to flatline her always, I just wasn’t fast enough to get it,” Vik said with overwhelming guilt. “I got to put the call in.” He walked away with his holo as V placed his hand on Judy’s shoulder.

“We were too late V,” she sobbed. V pulled her into a hug to comfort her as he remembered the chip.

“Fuck the Voodoo Boys, no way they’re getting this chip now,” he said. The deal was off. Vik was still on the phone as Misty walked in.

“Hey, how are you doing?” she asked the two of them. Judy couldn’t say much, words coming out as nonsense that would regress into more tears.

“Not so good Misty,” he answered. V let go of Judy as he tried to compose herself.

“I need to get some air, I’ll just be outside,” she said walking to the stairs. She exited as Misty gave V a sympathetic glance.

“I’m sorry V,” she said to him.

“Yeah me too Misty, had no idea they’d done that to her,” V said.

_Are you though?_

V looked around and back to Misty.

“Did…did you or Vik just say something?” he asked her.

“Vik’s nowhere near and I didn’t say anything,” she said. V placed his hand on his neural port.

“Silverhand, I might need Vik to run a diagnostic after this,” V said. “Any news on Jackie?”

“Still in a coma, they let me go visit him but Mama Welles was there, we didn’t really speak but I got a good feeling when I saw Jackie,” Misty told him.

“Think he’ll pull through?”

“Yeah, a gut feeling, he avoided mean reds,” she explained. Vik hung up the phone and turned to V.

“I uh…Morgue’s coming to pick her up in an hour, friend can say her goodbyes and I can help clean her up,” Vik said.

“Sure I’ll talk to Judy,” V said and turned to leave the clinic.

* * *

Outside Judy was sitting on the floor, a cigarette in her hands.

“Fresh air,” V said. He got it, not a smoker himself but sometimes nicotine was better than the city pollution.

“I should have stopped her, should have told her to stay with the Mox, that we’d take care of her,” Judy said and took another drag. “Want one?” she asked holding out Evelyn’s smoke case. V shook his head but sat down.

“I’m good, Vik said Morgue’s coming in an hour, we’ll give her a proper send-off,” he said to her.

“She should be in the Columbarium, I’ll get her a niche,” Judy added. “Thank you for being here V, you’re, you’re a good person,” she said to him, leaning on his shoulder.

“You’re a good person too Judy, Evie was lucky she had someone like you around,” V said.

* * *

Morgue picked up Evelyn’s body, Judy going with her so she could get a niche organised and fill out some paperwork but not before Judy handed the chip back to V telling him to ‘toss it into hell’ for her. V listened to the voicemails from Kerry, he hadn’t listened to them and only called when Evelyn was declared flatlined and even then it wasn’t a long conversation. He called for Kerry, up on the roof where he and Jackie used to hang with Misty and talk.

“Hey, everything alright?” Kerry asked as soon as he answered.

“No, god, there was nothing Vik could do, Voodoo Boys flatlined her using some malware of theirs, I ain’t giving them the chip now, better off giving it back to Hellman so we can be kept far from it,” V replied on the phone.

“Fuck V, I’m so sorry, I’m at the Sunset Motel if you want to ride out and meet,” Kerry suggested.

“I think I’m just going to go back to my apartment and sleep, I just need Vik to do a diagnostics first,” V said.

“Sure thing, I’ll get my bike back from the Aldecaldo camp and ride back to Watson, you sure you’re okay V”?  
“Yeah, I’ll manage…and uh I love you too by the way,” V said. There was a short moment of silence on Kerry’s end before he heard that chuckle of his.

“I’ll see you later V,” he said and hung up. V got up from the plastic chair he’d been sitting in to return back to the lift when he looked at the wall. A strange mural now there, had it always been there, an outline of a person with the sun on their forehead and the city in their body? He scanned it and saved the image and walked back downstairs.

* * *

Downstairs V returned to Vik where he was sitting quietly.

“Hey Vik, got a moment?” he asked. Vik looked up and nodded.

“Sure kid, what do you need?” he asked

“Can you run a diagnostic, I’m hearing and seeing odd things,” V said going to the chair.

“I’ll take a look, did you install any odd shards lately?” Vik asked.

“Just the biochip I klepped from Arasaka but I took it out a few weeks ago, got it right here,” V said pulling the shard from his pocket. Vik looked over the chip, noting it’s integrity was zero percent.

“This thing’s completely dead you know,” Vik noted as he started to scan V.

“I did install it the moment the chip was removed from the case, had to, so it wasn’t left behind when Trauma took us to NCM,” V told him. Vik looked at the diagnostics, noting some odd new information.

“That’s odd, you’ve got an imprint of an engram on here,” Vik said.

“Yeah the Silverhand construct, is it doing anything?” V asked.

“That’s the weird thing, it’s not doing anything but it is active, seems connected to your…oh,” Vik stopped.

“What, what is it?” V asked.

“Shit V, it’s linked to your neural pathways, activates when you’re at low neural activity,” Vik explained.

“Like when I sleep?”

“Sleep, unconscious, it can’t do anything because it’s linked to an active neural connection but looks like it’s learning, shit if you get flatlined this engram is primed to overtake your neural pathways,” Vik told him.

“Wait so if I die…I’ll turn into Johnny Silverhand?” V asked.

“Yeah.”

“Anything you can do to make it so that won’t happen?”

“Nothing I can do, not without altering the code but I don’t even know how to do that,” Vik said.

“Okay, well thanks for your help Vik,” V said and got up from the chair. He left the clinic, a heavy weight on his chest, grief, anxiety, Silverhand.

_Oh quit it, I’m not going to hurt you, Kerry would kill me._

“Kerry,” V muttered to himself. How did it know?

* * *

V returned to his apartment and went to sleep, twenty minutes after he was in bed, ready to go sleep, Kerry returned. V was happy to see him after the day’s events.

“Hey, you look…hot,” V said, only word coming to mind.

“Corpo Kerry could never take some Raffen Shiv like Rocker Boy Kerry did today with a Nomad,” Kerry said.

“Nomad?”

“Yeah, some girl named Panam, except I call her Peach Cobbler,” Kerry said.

“Why?” V asked as Kerry sat on the bed and pulled off his boots.

“Because I can, she also said I was a hundred which deeply offended me.”

“Because you’re really thirty-five right?” V said light-heartedly.

“Don’t push it,” Kerry warned him.

“I’ve had a really shitty day,” V said as Kerry undressed.

“Talk to me, take me through it,” he replied.

“Well Clouds was weird, I met up with Angel who managed to tell me where Evelyn was during our session,” V began.

“Isn’t Clouds the fetish dollhouse?”

“Yeah, I’ve been there before, trying to get over Clarke, anyway we found Evelyn at a Ripperdoc on Jig-Jig Street, managed to get her into Judy’s van and get to Vik’s where he spent hours on her, he was so close to saving her until the malware the Voodoo Boys had managed to put in Evelyn’s interface activated and flatlined her, it failed the first time, second time it succeeded,” V said lying on his side.

“I’m sorry V,” Kerry said getting under the bedcovers with V.

“I feel so bad for Judy, you should have seen her face, broke my heart.” V wondered if he should mention the Silverhand angle. Perhaps it would be best. “There was one other thing.”

“What’s that?”

“I got Vik to run a diagnostics and Silverhand’s active but only when I’m sleeping, should something happen to me and I get flatlined, he’s going to completely overwrite my neural pathways and I’ll be Johnny, honestly I’m scared of that possibility, so I need to find Hellman,” V said. Kerry pulled him into a hug.

“I won’t let that happen,” Kerry promised him. “I’ll find Hellman for you.”


	17. Storm

The next morning was the first sight of heavy rain that Night City hadn’t seen for several weeks, a storm had hit the city and was forecast to be there for a couple days. The sound of thunder awoke Kerry early in the morning, rain pelting the window in fat blotches, V was also awoken by the flash and sound of thunder.

“Is it morning already?”

“It’s six o’clock,” Kerry muttered trying to settle back under the blanket. V snuggled into him, he didn’t want to get up yet, but the storm outside was too much, no way he could do a job today in this weather.

“I want to stay here,” V said. Kerry kissed V’s forehead before he heard the inevitable buzzing of his phone. He reached down to the floor to pick it up, oddly enough Panam.

“Oh look it’s the problem child, what’s up Peach Cobbler?” Kerry said answering the holo.

“Don’t call me that and I’m not actually phoning you on a favour, the favour comes from my friend Scorpion,” Panam answered.

“Does he want an autograph?” Kerry asked as V leaned on Kerry’s chest to listen in.

“Not exactly, he just wants you to come on over,” Panam said.

“I’ve got a boyfriend, tell him he’s out of luck,” Kerry said to her.

“Just get your ass out to the Aldecaldo camp, bad enough I’m here because of this fucking storm and Saul is giving me the stink-eye,” Panam snapped at him.

“I am this close to grounding you, alright we’ll be there, let me get out of bed first,” Kerry said and hung up. “Well looks like I have to go to the Aldecaldo camp for something, you want to come with?”

“Sure, I can meet your new friends,” V said with a smile. Kerry smirked a little and rolled V off him to sit up.

“Mind if we take your car, it is looking nasty out there,” Kerry said getting out of bed.

“Sure thing, you’re driving though,” V replied getting out of bed as well. He went to the mirror and turned it on, he glanced at his reflection to see Johnny behind him.

_Boo!_

“Fuck!” V cried and jumped back.

“What, spider?” Kerry asked seeing V’s shocked look.

“He was right fucking there, in the mirror,” V said feeling the pulsing thump of his heart against his chest, Johnny had gone, but the fright still held strong. Kerry looked in the mirror.

“Nothing there, you alright V?”

“I just…never mind, I’ll be fine,” V said breathing out slowly and in to relieve the tension that had built up. “Let’s meet your new Nomad friends.”

* * *

Johnny’s sudden appearance had spooked V bad, but Kerry had a strange feeling too, his Echo Location Sensors were starting to pick up spotty frequencies that would sound like static when he tuned in, some sort of cheap shitty radio signal. The storm raged as the news put out a Scarlett Weather Alert for people to stay inside, keep safe and don’t venture too near the rivers or bridges for the winds that were now picking up. Flood warnings were being spread as V and Kerry drove out to the Badlands where the ground was a sopping mud and wet grass. They made it to the Aldecaldo Camp where there were tents held down with strong industrial strength tarps and a lot of the nomads were inside the tents. Kerry was glad he’d chosen those heavy hiking boots for this, commonly used when he was in Masbate during Monsoon Season.

“Kerry, you made it,” Mitch said coming to greet them.

“Panam yelled at me to come, by the way this is V,” Kerry said as V waved to Mitch.

“Alright come on, we’re this way,” Mitch said and guided them to a large tent where inside Panam and Scorpion were waiting.

“We’re here, what’s up Peach Cobbler,” Kerry said to Panam prompting a stifled chuckle from Mitch. Panam gave him a sour look for the nickname and looked at V.

“This your input?” she asked.

“Name’s V, you must be Peach Cobbler,” V said jokingly.

“Panam,” she corrected him.

“Alright so why did you drag us out here at seven in the morning?” Kerry asked her. She gestured to Scorpion who nodded. He started to talk when Kerry’s phone rang.

“Hold that thought Scorpion, Rogue, you get my guy?” Kerry said answering his holo.

“Got all your information Kerry, you can pay me back later, this favour will be big, Anders Hellman, ditched Arasaka is now in leagues with the Kang Tao, but he’s leaving Night City, did a bit more digging-,” Rogue said.

“Squeezed a few more balls, I know how you operate,” Kerry interrupted.

“Then you’ll be happy to know one pair I squeezed told me that Hellman is leaving Night City in a Kang Tao AV in the next twelve hours, had a bit of a snag with the airspace, but there is a patch in Jackson County just beyond both Kang Tao and Night City airspace where you can catch the bastard, how you’ll do it, up to you and hopefully Panam if she’s willing to help,” Rogue finished.

“You really are a stone cold bitch, can see why Johnny fell in love with you,” Kerry said before realising what he said.

“What he-?” Rogue began.

“Gotta go,” Kerry said and hung up.

“Well I just blew a secret that I was meant to take to my grave, but Panam time to call in that favour, we’re hitting a Kang Tao AV, we have twelve hours to hit it before it’s out of range of Jackson County,” Kerry said to them.

“Kang Tao are you crazy?” Mitch asked him.

“Kang Tao, if we can get it within twelve hours I can have Johnny out of my head by dinnertime,” V said.

“What now?” Panam asked confused.

“It’s a whole thing, Konpeki thing, I’ll tell you later,” V said. “How are we planning this then?”

“Well we can split this, you need Hellman so you can take out the AV just make sure to let me know I got a few questions myself, and I’ll hang with Scorpion,” Kerry said.

“Panam I cannot in good faith let you do this,” Mitch said to her.

“Mitch-,” Panam began in a tone that suggested he’d said that line before to her.

“Without my help, this is a Corp we’re dealing with…do you want Saul’s help too?” Mitch asked her.

“Actually we’re going to need Saul for my thing so best keep this out of his range,” Scorpion said to them.

“Alright, let me know when you’ve got Hellman,” Kerry said to V.

“Sure thing,” V said and kissed him before turning to Panam who had a rather defeated look on her face. “Let’s go.” He, Mitch and Panam left leaving Kerry and Scorpion. Kerry looked at the Nomad who had a rather awkward smile on his face.

“So what do you need Scorpion, autograph, cameo in a music video, you want the Aldecaldos to sponsor me?” he asked.

“Actually we need a Rockerboy for this job, well Saul does, he can explain it better than I can,” he said and quickly sent a message to Saul.

* * *

Within moments Kerry came face to face with a grizzled Nomad who had a very familiar feeling to him.

“Fuck did Santiago actually reproduce?” Kerry asked himself as Saul walked up to him. “No wait his son is Trace, I bought him a car.” He remembered, Trace was a good kid, good Media too.

“Kerry Eurodyne, it’s good to meet you at last,” he said holding his hand out. Kerry shook it and took a step back.

“Saul right,” he said.

“Yes, I need your help with something, I had made a deal with Kiroshi to buy one of their new specialised drones they’ve developed but it was swiped out from under me during delivery to the camp,” Saul explained.

“You’re better off with V helping you there, I’ve been in this line of work for one day, I’m coming way late into the game by like sixty years,” Kerry said.

“Panam spoke highly of you, as does Scorpion here, but someone from your music label swiped the drone, I have a feeling that it might be at their building, why I would need a rocker boy and not a merc,” Saul told him.

“Well I can get you in Saul, you can be my new bodyguard you’ve got that mean motherfucker look about you,” Kerry suggested. “But if we’re doing this I got one request if you see a greasy looking bastard with the world’s ugliest moustache get me out of his line of sight, he’s still mad at me.”

“Understood, we’ll take my car, you just tell me where to go,” Saul agreed.

“Alright, to Night City and MSM Records,” Kerry declared.


	18. Going Viral

Jaws dropped and people stared in awe as Corpos witnessed Kerry walking into MSM Records with Saul and Scorpion at his tail. The Screamsheets had already noticed the change in Kerry, speculating from whether he was on drugs, was having another mid-life crisis or his depression had spiralled out of control. The three of them walked into the lobby and he approached the receptionist where a nervous looking intern sat.

“Uh Mr Eurodyne, how may I be of assistance?” he asked Kerry in a timid voice.

“Shit your pants later kid I need a key card to the offices upstairs,” Kerry said in a demanding tone to the intern.  
“Uh I don’t think-,” the intern stammered causing Kerry to slam his hand on the desk.  
“What did I say kid, card now or someone’s not getting college credit this semester,” Kerry told him harshly. The intern squeaked and fumbled around for a key card and passed it over. Kerry smiled at the kid and tossed him a few eddies and they headed over to the lifts.

“Did you have to intimidate the kid?” Saul wondered as they stepped into the lift.

“It’s how the Corpo world works Saul, you have to show your fangs so they take you seriously, he’ll take this as a lesson in learning how to survive the Corpo world, otherwise they’ll just eat him up,” Kerry explained. The offices on the top floor were mostly for the boards and managers but Kerry knew that they were all out for the day as it was a Tuesday and that meant hitting the strip clubs for ‘conferences’ for the working day.

“If your drone is anywhere it’ll be up here, they’d have to look over footage if they were using it,” Kerry said. One by one he opened up the offices and scanned the rooms for the drone, the effort felt fruitless until he checked Marcus Bronx’s office at the end of the corridor. He grinned at the sight of the Kiroshi crate containing the drone and walked into the room.

“Found your drone,” he said.

“We’ll have to restore it to factory settings to wipe their profile from it,” Scorpion said.

“What makes it so special from Militech?” Kerry asked as he went to the computer.

“It’s designed more for covert operations, smaller size, clearer lens and can scroll and catch audio and visuals from over two hundred feet away,” Saul explained.

“Nice, alright we’ll check for any footage they already have and do a factory restore,” Kerry said sitting down to get into the computer where the shard was jacked in, it was already logged in and had three files all labelled Kerry.

“What the fuck?” he muttered looking at the files. Kerry: Watson, Kerry: Nomad Kerry: Sex Tape. “What the fuck!” he asked again seeing the final file.

“What is it?” Scorpion asked. Kerry opened each file. Footage of him and V in Watson, footage of him chatting with Panam in Santa Domingo. He didn’t know what the final one could hold but it sounded bad. He clicked the file and saw red immediately. Footage looking directly into V’s apartment, of him and V, it had caught everything including the audio.

“They fucking filmed me, Bronx fucking filmed me!” Kerry cried out slamming his fist onto the desk.

“Shit,” Saul commented.

“This is fucking bad, let’s take the drone and Delta,” Kerry said getting up from the computer and ripping the shard from the computer. Saul grabbed the case as Scorpion kept a look out and the three headed back towards the elevator.

“Soon as we get back to your camp I need to check the Net,” Kerry said to Saul as they stepped into the lift.

“We have what we came for, you seem to have all the luck,” Saul commented as Kerry punched for the ground floor.

“Yeah well, lucky me I made it big, but all it cost me was my soul and my best friend who’s now a digital ghost,” Kerry said. Saul gave him a bewildered but still grizzled look. “Long story,” Kerry added.

* * *

Thelift reached the ground floor as Kerry simply threw the key card back to the timid receptionist.

“Where the fuck is he!” Kerry then heard shouted from the lobby as they reached the doors.

“Time to delta, my ass is about to be fired,” Kerry said pushing Saul forward. They quickly headed back to Saul’s car and piled in just as Kerry saw both Bronx and Kovachek at the doors of the building. Scorpion sat in the back of the car with the drone as Saul took the wheel and Kerry sat up front. He looked at the window as he saw Bronx and Kovachek both watching the car.

“Floor it Santiago!” Kerry shouted. There was a brief moment of silence before Saul pushed on the gas to get the car rolling.  
“Santiago?” Scorpion asked Kerry.

“Last time I said that Santiago and I had just stolen an Arasaka Convoy, he’d put a whole crew together me and Rogue being part of it, Johnny not so much he was a bit high on LSD at the time and was useless, Kiroshi Drone feels like the same level,” Kerry explained.

“You’re a wild guy Kerry, I can see why Panam took a liking to you,” Saul noted.

“Yeah what is the deal with you and Panam, why did she leave the clan if family is a huge thing for you guys?” Kerry asked.

“It’s complicated,” Saul replied.

“Oh really, is it more complicated than having to give up custody of teenagers who haven’t had any contact since they were seven and eleven, Kim’s nineteen now and Ted’s twenty-three, both still live with their mom,” Kerry said to him.

“She wanted to make it by herself, that’s all I’ll say on the matter,” Saul added, Kerry looked behind his seat to Scorpion who shook his head.

“Alright Saul let me tell you a story, my little girl Kim. She’s four years old, I had a concert at some old club here in Night City, acoustic set nothing special, Kim wanted to come to the gig but she’s four years old so I know it’ll be a bad idea too, Ted was at a sleepover with some friends, and Louise, I don’t know where she fucking was that night, probably cheating on me. Anyway rather than fork out eddies for a babysitter I brought her with me, set went well, she sat next to me and I’d let her announce each song, I got a bit of sympathy for the ‘good dad’ routine, but then her mom showed up after the set as we were getting ready to go to Caliente’s for food. There was a lot of yelling and I slept in the No-Tell Motel that night, separation happened shortly after and then the ugly divorce three years later, the one thing I felt really bad about was I had a choice that night be a shitty father and leave Kim with a babysitter or be fun dad and bring her to my set that was fine for her, she never left my side, I did give her one piece of advice before I gave up all custody,” Kerry explained.

“And what was that?” Saul asked.

“I said ‘Kim there are going to be people who tell you that something is a bad idea, only listen to them if you know in your gut it is a bad idea if your gut tells you something else, go with it’ she took that to mean not to listen to her mother,” Kerry replied.

“So what is your point?” Saul asked.

“If Panam disobeys you she probably has a very good reason for it,” Kerry told him.

“You’re very perceptive,” Saul said. “It’s not too late for Panam to come back if she chooses.”

“That’s the spirit Saul, this is the last piece of advice I’m giving for the rest of the year, anyone else needs Doctor Eurodyne’s help they can piss off,” Kerry declared. Scorpion laughed slightly as they drove out of Night City and back to the Aldecaldo Camp.

* * *

As they returned to the camp, Scorpion tuned into the radio channels to get a hold of Mitch and Panam who were now nearer to the power stations.  
“What’s the play Mitch?” Scorpion asked.

“Electromagnetic Pulse, it’s going to cut comms if we’re not careful but meet us out on the ridge up from the station, it’ll be far enough from the blast that we should be okay, keep Saul in the loop for now that a Kang Tao AV’s going to come crashing,” Mitch said over the channel.

“Alright copy that, let’s hope this doesn’t turn into a shit show, we’ll head on out” Scorpion said and radioed out. “Saul, Kang Tao’s AV is going to get brought down within a few hours, can you get the drone ready so we can get surveillance going for when it lands, we’ll need to know how many Kang Tao we’ll be dealing on the ground.

“Why are we concerned with Kang Tao?” Saul asked.

“They’re transporting an Arasaka suit that V and I both need to talk to,” Kerry explained.

“Alright, you helped me Kerry so I’m helping you, we’ll get that Corpo,” Saul agreed. Saul stayed behind to get the drone prepared as Scorpion and Kerry headed to meet Mitch, V and Panam.


	19. A Good Cop And A Bad Merc

Scorpion and Kerry arrived at the ridge where Mitch, Panam and V were waiting around Panam’s car.

“Hey guys,” Scorpion said. Panam waved as she pulled out a rocket launcher from the back of her car. Kerry hugged V and pulled him off to the side.

“We have a slight problem, there’s a good chance the Net is circulating a video of us from a few nights ago,” he told V.

“What did we do a few nights ago?” V asked him. Kerry raised his eyebrow at him and tilted his head sideways.

“You forget already, we had sex up against your window, your ass imprint is still on the glass, I found out that Bronx has been recording me with the Kiroshi Drone they klepped from Saul, we have the drone now but they most certainly have copies of the video,” Kerry explained.

“Fuck, I’d be more pissed if we weren’t this close to Hellman,” V said as they walked back to the cars.

“Yeah, how’s that coming along?” Kerry asked going over to Mitch.

“Well we’ve overcharged the PowerStation to emit a massive EMP to bring the ship down, failing that Panam’s compensating with a rocket launcher,” Mitch said.

“Saul’s getting the drone prepped for view coverage, we need to know how many suits we’ll be dealing with,” Scorpion added.

“Nothing left to do but wait,” Panam commented.

* * *

It was a quiet twenty minutes, V’s hand eagerly on the detonator as finally they saw the Kang Tao AV coming into range, Scorpion on the radio.

“Alright Saul’s AV’s coming into range,” Scorpion said on the radio.

“Alright, hold it and….go!” Panam cried. V pressed the detonator as nothing happened, then again, and a third time until finally the explosion popped but the AV was just out of range.

“Fuck me guys!” Kerry said in frustration.

“They’re getting away, Panam do something!” V cried out.

“On it,” Panam said as she aimed and fired the rocket launcher, the missile curved and twirled through the air as it locked on and blew the engine on the AV.

“Cars now!” Mitch ordered. Panam, V and Kerry jumped into Panam’s car as Mitch and Scorpion jumped into Scorpions. The cars started to drive as Mitch started to report to Saul.

“Kang Tao engines ruptured and going down,” Mitch said.

“Copy that, drone’s locked in, heading towards the ditch about ten miles south of the nearest gas station, don’t engage directly, survey and see how many we’re dealing with, you need to lock this in before any backup arrives,” Saul ordered them.

“He better be alive, Peach Cobbler,” Kerry said to Panam.

“He will be, V jack into the turret to get those drones out of the sky,” Pana answered.

“On it,” V answered as he pulled out his neural link to connect to the turrets.

“Kerry, can you assist, I have a sniper in the back in case the turret overheats,” Panam said.

“Forty years since I last fired a sniper and even then I was terrible, your fault if I keep missing,” Kerry said, grabbing the rifle and opening up the sun roof. He took aim but Panam’s driving was knocking him about as the AV finally came to a crash landing.

“AV down, get in there boys,” Saul called on the radio. A drone came flying near the car as Kerry sniped it and took off a wing. The cars came to a stop just before the crash site out of sight as Panam got out her drone to survey the area.

“How are we looking?” V asked.

“Not good, a lot of Kang Tao, security bots and two turrets attached to the AV, we need to get those turrets shut down so we can get inside the AV,” Panam said.

“What’s the plan then?” Mitch asked on the radio.

“I’ll cover you with my rifle, Mitch and Scorpion focus on the turrets and V and Kerry will take out the guards,” Panam said.

“A good plan,” Kerry agreed as he got out his Archangel. “Watch our backs.”

* * *

Panam got into position with her rifle as V and Kerry headed in first to take out the bots and the guards. V gave Kerry a signal to go right as he went life and silently took out a Kang Tao guard. Kerry’s mouth dropped at V’s takedown a little, just like in North Oak but no bones cracking this time.

Two bots went down quickly from Panam as V took down the guards quietly, Kerry approached a guard and grabbed the guy who started to struggle in his chokehold.

“Hold fucking still!” Kerry muttered as he pulled the guy to the floor, now getting him in a submission hold to keep him still. V watched with amusement as Kerry struggled to takedown the guy and eventually smacked him with the butt of Archangel knocking the guy out.

“Nice work,” V said with a chuckle.

“Do I look like I do this on a regular basis?” Kerry asked him annoyed and shoving the unconscious guard off him. The turrets then powered down as the whole area was now calm. The four of them approached the door of the AV as Panam met up with them.

“Let me guys,” Scorpion said as he opened up the AV. Suddenly a bullet shot through and hit Scorpion in the chest as the pilot started firing his gun.

“Scorpion!” Panam cried as Kerry pushed her out of the way as he shot the pilot, the bullet going through his eye and a nasty eruption came from the guy’s head and covered the wall.

“Fuck I didn’t want to kill him,” Kerry said in shock. Panam and Mitch started to attend Scorpion who was bleeding heavily.

“Scorpion, fuck who’s got a Max Doc.” Panam said. V pulled one from his bag and stabbed it into Scorpion as Kerry saw a first aid kit and ripped it from the wall of the AV and tossed it to the floor beside Mitch. He looked back into the AV and he started to smile at the prize.

“Hello Hellman,” Kerry said, noticing the cowering Corpo in the corner of the AV, he approached the suit, hoisted him up and then smacked him hard with his pistol knocking him out. He dragged him out as Mitch bandaged Scorpion’s bullet wound.

“I’m taking him back to camp, you guys good here?” Mitch asked as he and Panam helped Scorpion up.

“We got the suit, we’ll take him to the Sunset Motel, V get your cop buddy on the holo and tell him to meet us there, I might need a badge to stop me from doing something stupid to this gonk,” Kerry said.

“I’m coming too, you owe me for the help,” Panam said to them.

“Alright, you two going to be okay?” V asked Mitch.

“Help me get Scorpion to the car and we’ll be fine,” Mitch said to them.

* * *

Once Scorpion was in his car with Mitch, Panam, Kerry and V hauled Hellman into the trunk and started to drive to the Sunset Motel. V got out his holo.

“V?” River answered.

“Hey River, can you meet us at the Sunset Motel?” V asked.

“What for?”

“Conducting an interrogation, we might need to do a little good cop bad cop with this Corpo we snagged,” V explained.

“Kidnapping…alright, I’m off duty and not far, I’ll meet you there,” River agreed.

“Preem, alright see you then,” V said and hung up. “River’s on his way.”

“He’s an alright guy, could probably do better than being a badge maybe,” Kerry commented.

“He…good looking?” Panam enquired. Kerry chuckled and patted her shoulder.

“Let me tell you something Peaches, you might need to change after you meet him,” he said. V started laughing loudly at the comment as she glared at him.

“Fuck you,” she said harshly.

* * *

The sun was low in the sky as Panam’s car pulled up to the Sunset Motel and they spotted a truck and River leaning against it. They got out of the car as V went to get Hellman from the trunk and Kerry and Panam approached River.

“Kerry, how’s my favourite rockerboy doing, you change your hair?” River asked him.

“The Screamsheets are calling this my ‘spiral out of control’ so I’m embracing it, by the way this is Panam, she’s an Aldecaldo,” Kerry said pushing Panam forward.

“Hi,” she said to River awkwardly. “I fucking hate you,” She muttered to Kerry as V walked up with Hellman over his shoulder.

“Got the suit, Panam can you get us a room so we can have a little chat with him?” V asked.

“Sure thing,” she agreed, walking quickly away from River and Kerry.

“So River, how much can we get away with for this interrogation?” V asked.

“As a cop I gotta tell you I’d have to report this…but like I said I’m off duty today, so anything short of jumper cables and waterboarding,” River said to him.

“Jumper cables, man I remember Johnny used those once, he caught an Arasaka suit trying to get info out of him, got a car battery, actually it was the battery from my car, hooked the cables up to the battery and then then to the Corpo, lit him up like a Christmas tree, but he got the information,” Kerry remembering that event.

“Fuck Ker, Johnny was off the leash,” V commented.

“There was no leash for Johnny,” Kerry said. Panam came back holding up a key.

“Got my usual room, no one will disturb you guys, I will wait at the bar and drink,” Panam said, handing the key over to V.

“We’ll make sure he’s treated well,” V said and started to head over to the hotel room with Hellman. River followed and Kerry muttered to Panam.

“When we’re done I’ll point him to the bar.” Panam nodded, blushing slightly as she returned to the bar.

* * *

Inside the hotel room Anders was propped up on a chair, V sitting in front of him on another chair, Kerry leaning up against the door as River stood behind Anders.

“Alright let’s wake him up and start this, I got a few questions of my own,” Kerry said. V slapped Hellman to wake him up.

“Wake up,” V said. Hellman was awoken and looked around at his captors.

“What do you want?” he asked them, already scared.

“We’ve got a few questions, first one is about Johnny Silverhand, remember him?” Kerry asked walking over.

“What are you talking about, I don’t understand what-,” Hellman began.

“Really, then why was his engram on your prototype relic a relic that I managed to not only successfully install into my head but removed and made it empty,” V asked, throwing the relic at Hellman who scrambled to catch it.

“My prototype, but how did- how did you acquire it from Yorinobu?” Hellman wondered.

“He gave it to us as a present, how do you think gonk?” Kerry said to him. “I distracted good old Yori and V klepped it, of course Saburo being dead was more important news to report, who gives a shit about a biochip right, except there were people that did, we’ve got a friend in a coma and he’s got my dead best friend’s psyche sleeping in his head, so you’re going to tell us how to get Johnny out of V’s head and if you don’t...well you’ll learn how my feud with Ali All-Star really ended,” Kerry said.

“The sooner you answer their questions, the quicker you’ll be out of here,” River assured him. Hellman gulped and inserted the biochip into his neural port. He looked over the data and then gestured to V.

“I need to check your friend,” he said. He pulled out his neural link from his palm and connected into V’s port and started a bioscan. He seemed confused, then shocked, then smiled and then ejected the link. “It is a shame we do not have access to Mikoshi, the disconnection would be an easier process.”

“You can’t just put it onto the chip?” V asked.

“Unfortunately no, because the chip has been fully installed and it’s bio-integrity gone, I would have to make an entirely new chip, attach it to Mikoshi, connect you up and redownload Silverhand back into Mikoshi and re-upload him back into the new biochip, you see the problem yes?” Hellman said.

“River, restrain him,” Kerry said. River gave Kerry a curious look but obliged, holding Hellman’s arms around the back of the chair. Kerry leaned forward into Hellman’s face.

“Tell us everything about Mikoshi, what it is, where it is, how we get in there,” he said. Hellman’s scared expression turned into a glare and he spat at Kerry.

“I am not afraid of a has-been rocker boy playing terrorist,” he said. Kerry smiled and started to laugh, a strange maniacal laugh and then he looked at Hellman.

“Wrong choice of words Hellman,” Kerry said and wrenched Hellman from the chair, threw him to the ground and started to furiously punch him. He landed three hits before Hellma’s nose broke and blood started to pour.

“Tell me where Mikoshi is!” Kerry yelled at Hellman. V could only watch before he heard a whisper.

_ Alt. _

“Alt,” V said, making Kerry stop beating Hellman and look at him.

“What?” he asked.

“Alt, does that mean anything to you?” V asked.

“Alt...Alt...wait, Alt Cunningham, she would know...too bad she’s dead,” Kerry said. Hellman chuckled.

“Not exactly,” he said. Kerry looked down at the bleeding Corpo.

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Arasaka tried to lock her away but she was too quick, she is out there in the Net somewhere, why do you think we kept Silverhand all these years,” Hellman said.

“Looks like this suit knows when to talk,” River said. Kerry stood up and glanced down at the Corpo, his fist looking nice and bloody from beating Hellman’s face in.

“Alright Hellman here’s how it’s going to go, you’re going to give us all the information about the biochip and how to get into Mikoshi, in return for your cooperation, we won’t rat you out to Arasaka, after all you knew Yorinobu stole the chip right, which means…” Kerry stopped, could Hellman guess?

“Say it,” Hellman said to him.

“I don’t need to, give V all the information on the chip and Mikoshi and we’ll give you a ten minute headstart,” Kerry said. Hellman sat up and glared at Kerry until he finally crawled to V and gave him access to the biochip blueprints and the location of Mikoshi.

“There...happy?” Hellman said. Kerry gestured to River who walked to the motel door and opened it.

“You got five seconds, go,” River said.


End file.
